The Transfer
by Iris Kane
Summary: In light of recovering from the war, Kingsley Shacklebolt enlists the help of a few American wizards. One of which enlist his daughters Victoria and Olive at Hogwarts. While both girls are bright Victoria continues to struggle with a condition no Healer can fix (not to mention a malfunctioning broomstick). Post DH, pre-Epilogue
1. Prologue

**This story has been a long time coming. I always put off writing a Harry Potter fan fiction because I felt none of what I could write could measure up to what JK Rowlings wrote in the original series.**

 **This idea actually was a suggestion from my mother as my last few fanfics had been (suggestions from my parents that is) have actually done fairly well all things considered.**

 **This story is a little different from many Harry Potter fanfics, I chose to include the characters as they are, but they do not tell the story I leave that to an OC as it is her story to tell Harry and the others are only supporting characters.**

 **I hope you enjoy it.**  
 **Iris Kane**

…

 **The Transfer**

 **Year 1**

 **Prologue**

"Tap, tap, tap". An owl tapped at the window of the headmaster's (now headmistress) office at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; the old woman, who had been old some years before that had gotten a few new lines in the 7 years prior, looked up from the letter she was reading.

Minerva McGonagall looked up from the letter she had received and she was about to take a quill and reply when she noticed the owl. The owl was an important looking tawny that had an air about it that said it had work to do and would you please see to its business before it vacated the premises.

"Now, now," Minerva McGonagall muttered under her breath as she unlatched the window behind her. "Keep your feathers on!" Just as she opened the window the owl entered, and dropped a letter on her desk before zooming out again.

Minerva McGonagall glanced at the seal, which was shaped like a large letter "M" on the important looking letter before muttering to herself.

"Now what does Kingsley want now."

The letter from the Minister of Magic was short and to the point.

 _Minerva-_

 _I have just received word from the Ministry in the United States that they are sending a few wizards from Washington DC to help with the repairs and restructure since the war. I know it has only been 2 years Minerva, although to many of us I'm sure it seems much longer-_

Minerva McGonagall nodded in agreement.

 _One of the wizards coming over is a Jeffrey Smith. His 2 eldest daughters are 14 and 12 and will be attending Hogwarts for the duration of the time the family is in the country. His eldest, Victoria, has a few difficulties and it seems no Healer in the United States has been able to fix them. He asks if anyone here in London or the surrounding area and knows of someone who can help and if she can receive special help at school._

 _I am told her she is quite good at Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts… Her scores in magical history are also impressive. Given that young wizards start their schooling at 8 in the US that is to be expected… I'm sure she will make quite an exemplary pupil._

 _Mister Smith also mentioned he would be sending you an owl with further details._

 _Kingsley Shacklebolt_

 _Minister of Magic_

Minerva McGonagall dropped the letter on her desk and turned her gaze to the portrait behind it.

"What do you make of this Albus? We hardly ever take transfers, but given the circumstances following the end of the war…"

"Fresh young minds are always good for the school Minerva, no matter how old or young they happen to be. I myself have learned quite a few things within Hogwarts over the years-prior to my untimely death of course." Albus Dumbledore smiled serenely.

Minerva McGonagall seated herself once again behind the desk in the headmaster's office. She was interested to see these two young witches the minister spoke of and was eager to see how their journey unfolded. Quickly she composed a replied to the Minister.

 _Kingsley-_

 _I will be more than happy to help the girls. According to the records here at Hogwarts they should already be listed if they were approved for schooling here within the past few months._

Minerva McGonagall paused in her writing and momentarily flicked at something with her wand, a drawer near the desk opened revealing a long piece of parchment which began to unfold itself. Glancing down the list, she saw the names she expected to see. At the bottom were two new names.

SMITH, OLIVE

SMITH, VICTORIA

Nodding in satisfaction, with a another flick of her wand the parchment refolded itself and the door shut. Picking up her quill again McGonagall continued writing.

 _I've course left to speak to the board of governors regarding specifications for the older daughter, but I foresee no problem. Disabilities among our kind are rare, certainly nothing a good Healer can't fix, but until such a time comes for this young witch we must make the best of it._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Minerva McGonagall_

She finished the letter, sealed it and made a mental note to get to the owlery before she turned in for the night. She then returned her attention to the letter she had been reading prior to the arrival of the minister's owl. The letter was from none other than Harry Potter himself, Harry who had recently been promoted to a junior officer within the Aurors' office. Maybe the American wizard's daughter would be such a pupil not unlike a trio of students with taken off their last year of school to unlock the key to the defeat of the Dark Lord.

…


	2. The Secret Life of the American Witch

**Chapter 1-The Secret Life of the American Witch**

Victoria Smith wasn't sure what was more shocking, the fact that her dad had actually accepted a job overseas, or the fact that she was going to be going to one of the best wizarding schools in the world in a few short months. She was 14 years old and would be starting as a fourth year at Hogwarts, her sister was 12 and would be starting as a second year, although Victoria doubted they would be in the same House.

Following the Second Wizarding War and the defeat of You Know Who by Harry Potter the wizarding world had been short on jobs and needed many hands and wands. That was how her father had ended up being transferred to London and working from there instead of the ministry here in Washington DC.

The American Ministry was an underground building that went into the side of the Lincoln Memorial. It was protected with various charms and enchantments that prevented the Muggles, or non-magical people, that worked in the highly populated city from discovering it by accident.

The hardest thing about the entire fiasco was leaving her friends, or more specifically her best friend, Jeremiah Knott, he had been her best friend since they had started school 4 years ago. They had met when they were both 8 years old as first years at The American Wizard Institute, or AWI, as it was more commonly known by students.

It had been 2 years since the defeat of Voldemort, and while witches and wizards around the world celebrated (although not as raucously as they had in the first few weeks) they were still rogue Death Eaters to worry about which was why ministries around the world were still on alert.

Following breakfast Victoria returned to her bedroom, the walls were covered with Quidditch posters, which included several different teams including the best European teams that were at the top of the league and the local American team the DC Dragons. Alongside charmed posters of the Quidditch athletes were posters of musicians from Michael and wizarding their hands. Her favorites were a Muggle band called The Barnaby Brothers (who had broken up at least 3 times over the past 4 years) and a wizard band called the Fizzing Wizzbangs, whose last tour had promptly been cancelled thanks to Death Eater attacks.

At the center of it all, was Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, although by now he wasn't much of a boy now, he was close to 20 by now (if Victoria did her math correctly) had a girlfriend and was currently working as an Auror. His two best friends Ron and Hermione also worked at the Ministry and were doing their best to put the wizarding world back together.

Ron Weasley worked also as an Auror, but he had worked in his brother's joke shop in Diagon Alley immediately following the war. Hermione Granger was also working within the ministry and after finishing her last year of school had taken a job in the Magical Law Enforcement department, she had put through several bi-laws which greatly impacted the wizarding world on several levels.

This had all been reported to Victoria thanks to wizarding magazines and the Daily Prophet and is much as she enjoyed talking about the latest celebrity gossip on famous witches and wizards, she didn't find wishing death threats on Harry Potter's girlfriend, one Ginny Weasley, chaser for the Holyhead Harpies, high on her priority list.

"At least you don't have pictures of him on your walls now." Her sister Olive teased.

In response to this comment Victoria had thrown a pillow at her sister-missing spectacularly.

Olive stuck out her tongue.

"Missed me!" She laughed before darting away again.

"I like Harry and respect him for what he did and not just because he's famous!" She called back. Her sister didn't answer.

The morning the letters came her mother was fixing breakfast while her father drank his coffee making exasperated comments over the most recent Daily Prophet headlines.

"When will they round up the last of these Death Eaters?" Victoria heard her father mutter as she dove into her bowl of cereal. "There's still riots in Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and that's not even counting all the Muggle deaths." He shook his head before tossing the Prophet aside.

Just then, a large barn owl tapped on the window leading to the backyard causing her mother to look up.

"Looks like your school letters are here." She turned to yell towards the back of the house, " Olive, come to the kitchen right now!" A few minutes later her sister burst into the kitchen her shoulder length red hair flying as she sat down pouring herself a glass of milk.

"Hogwarts letters, one for each of you."

The envelope was sealed with an official looking seal, even the letters from her American school work this fancy, but she supposed that was because the school was so old and traditional, AWI only went back to the twenties and she knew Hogwarts was much older than that.

Unfolding the parchment Victoria glanced over the letter.

 _Dear Ms. Smith,_

 _We are pleased to inform you that on behalf of the Headmistress, you have been accepted (as a fourth year) to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Enclosed is a list of appropriate supplies you will require; also, we are well aware of your situation our Ministry and board of governors has been informed and it is been decided that certain permissions will be granted you over the course of your time here at Hogwarts._

 _If you have any questions please speak to your Head of House (whoever that may be) or directly to the Headmistress._

 _We look forward to seeing you on September 1._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Minerva McGonagall_

 _Headmistress, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

Olive had also gone a similar letter. Also attached was a list of supplies. Glancing over this Victoria realized she had most of them, including potions ingredients, quills, parchment and a cauldron for potions. She already had her wand, 11 inches, willow, and phoenix father, she had insisted on getting it from Olivanders in London even though it had cost her almost double the price of a wand in the States, she only got away with it because she insisted on the best, costing her mother between 20 and 30 galleons.

"We'll have to get you both new robes of course, but I think the rest of your supplies and clothing should do just fine for Hogwarts."

"When are we leaving again?" Olive grumbled, she wasn't too thrilled about leaving her friends either.

Their mother paused, kissed their father and watched him disapparate before answering her younger daughter.

"June 30, if all goes well, and the Ministry doesn't hit any snags."

Returning to her room, courtesy of her customized broomstick a slender run-of-the-mill broom with a few choice charms on it, something that had been her mother's idea around the time she had started school. She used it to get around the house, but it wasn't quite practical for outdoor transportation, which was a problem that would have to be solved before she started at Hogwarts. Victoria glanced at her calendar there were 2 dates circled on it.

The first read:

 **June 30: leaving for London; port key 7 AM**

The second read:

 **September 1: Hogwarts; Hogwarts Express at Kings Cross 11 AM**

As excited as she was for all these things, Victoria was vaguely apprehensive she still didn't like the idea of leaving her best friend. The longer she waited for it the harder it would be… She was dreading saying goodbye to Jeremiah, wishing, not for the first time, she could take him with her.


	3. Farewell on the Knoll

**Chapter 2- Farewell on the Knoll**

The month after the end of term flew by and before Victoria knew it she would be leaving for London in a few short days. She made best of her remaining time in the states because she figured it might be a few years before she could return.

The afternoon before the Portkey was to depart she made the best of her time and spent the afternoon with Jeremiah, before they finally said goodbye.

Jeremiah Knott was an average looking boy with unruly blonde hair. He had a thin face and startling turquoise green eyes. He was the youngest of 3 brothers, the oldest who wrestled trolls for a living and the other who worked in the US Auror department. Jeremiah's parents both worked, Mrs. Knott was a Healer at a local hospital and Mr. Knott worked in the Muggle Relations department.

Since neither of them could Apparate for at least another year and a half they made best with traveling to each other's homes by Floo, but today upon reaching the Knott residence they made their way to a park nearby, Victoria's broomstick drifting along lazily. She had been pestering her mother for an upgrade, preferably a Firebolt, or something of that nature.

"I need something faster," she complained after the broomstick had stuttered and stalled for the fifth time in an hour a few days prior, "I need something that I can ride around on outside and not just in the house."

"You only one a Firebolt because that's what Harry Potter has." Her mother said matter-of-factly, tucking a strand of her auburn hair (along with her wand) behind her ear.

"I'm sure he is a different model now, I mean, how much time does an Auror have for Quidditch?"

Her mother didn't answer.

"Why don't you just get a Nimbus," her mother finally said in a resigned voice, "they're much easier to adapt and we know your seat fits on it, if we got you anything faster we have to make more modifications and I would have to be worried about holes in my walls."

"Your mom still giving you problems about getting a new broom?" Jeremiah asked as they rounded the corner towards the park.

Victoria nodded, sighing.

"You still want the Firebolt don't you?"

She nodded again.

"What about the Cirrus 4000?" Jeremiah asked, "I think that's the latest model?"

"Mom's still not keen on me getting a top-of-the-line racing broom, and she says it isn't worth the money. I've had this old Nimbus for almost 6 years and it was a hand-me-down broom to begin with, the charms on it were already acting dodgy."

Jeremiah nodded in sympathy, but Victoria knew he couldn't really fully understand.

For the next few hours they simply talked discussing everything from what was expected of the fifth year students at AWI to Quidditch and the Dragons chances of making it to the Quidditch World Cup this year.

"We'll be taking our OWLS this year… Figuring out what we want to do. Professor Dickens still thinks I should go into Healing… You know, with my mom and all."

Jeremiah and Victoria both shared an interest in Charms, but he was better at Potions than she was, they were also both crazy about Defense against the Dark Arts and often practiced dueling each other when they could get away with it, but they had both already gotten warnings about being underage, so they didn't do it so much anymore.

"Ever consider being an Auror?" Victoria asked.

Jeremiah shrugged.

"A little too risky for me I think, you?"

Victoria shrugged.

"Maybe. I still have almost a year to figure it out, since I'm only going into my fourth year when I go to Hogwarts. I still think they wouldn't take me though, my reflexes are horrible, which is the same reason I don't think they would take me for Quidditch either."

"I've heard good things about Hogwarts," Jeremiah murmured, " it's one of the best wizarding schools in the world; it's definitely been around the longest other than Durmstrang and Beaubatons."

They were quiet for a while as Victoria considered this when Jeremiah abruptly changed topics, his tone more upbeat.

"I can't wait till I have my Apparation license, that way I can go wherever I want whenever I want and I don't have to wait for someone of age to take me somewhere."

Victoria nodded.

"I don't know how I can get mine, until I can actually stand up I can exactly Apparate, can I?"

The two teenagers fell into silence.

In the five minutes it took them to walk to the park they had selected a quiet spot void of people to talk. It was a grassy Knoll within view of the swing sets that the Muggle children usually played on, but given the late hour of the afternoon they were pretty much deserted. They were quiet for quite some time before Victoria spoke again.

"I'm going to miss you so much!" She murmured, as she hugged him her head buried his shoulder. It was the first time either of them had said anything about the departure other than Jeremiah asking how long she would be abroad. Jeremiah hugged her back.

"Me too." He murmured placing a hand on her back briefly before he pulled away.

"So when are you leaving for London?" Jeremiah asked when they had pulled apart.

"Tomorrow, early." Victoria answered. "I'm kind of excited but kind of scared to be leaving everything I know behind, you know."

Jeremiah jammed his hands into his jeans pockets.

"Do you know how long your dad's going to be there?"

Again, Victoria shrugged, pausing temporarily to smack her broom, which was listing slightly to the left.

"They weren't sure… Maybe a year maybe 3 or 4."

"Would you stay in London after school then?" Jeremiah asked.

"I don't know, maybe," Victoria answered, "even though I'm legal over there at 17 I would have to wait another year so I'm legal over here. Hogwarts only goes until you're 17."

Jeremiah nodded.

"Makes sense."

"You'd send me owls, won't you?" Victoria asked quizzically looking up at him.

"Of course." Jeremiah replied with a grin.

"Every day?" She pressed.

Jeremiah's grin widened and his blue green eyes sparkled mischievously. "Every day… Promise."

It wasn't until later Victoria glanced at her watch which was peeping shrilly. A hand on the watch pointed to "your late, come home for dinner" did she only realize it was almost 5 PM.

"We better get back, it's almost dinner time." Victoria commented showing Jeremiah her watch. As if it had only just occurred to him Jeremiah glanced down at his own watch which read simply: "your late, get home now!" before nodding in agreement.

The journey back to the house was made in silence and Jeremiah and Victoria didn't speak again until they arrived in the Knotts kitchen.

"I better go before mom has a kneazle." Victoria muttered, "The only time I'm late is when I'm going by Floo, I think she thinks it gives me a little bit too much freedom."

Jeremiah gave her a sympathetic smile, chuckling softly.

Saying a quick farewell to Mrs. Knott, Victoria headed for the fireplace, grabbing a handful of Floo powder, said a quick "the Smiths" and was gone, broomstick and all.


	4. The Portkey and the Platform

**Chapter 3-The Portkey and the Platform**

Victoria awoke the next morning to the sound of her family bustling about. From what she could hear, her parents were already up, finishing the last of the packing before the portkey arrived. Her sister was also awake, but from the mutterings on the other side of the wall was not out of bed. Finally Victoria managed to crack her eyes open and squinted at the clock on her bedside table, the bright numbers currently read 5:50 AM on a normal day she would still be asleep and would have another hour before getting up.

She was just contemplating this when there was a tap on her door, as she expected it was her mother with her head in the doorway.

"Victoria, time to get up, there's still enough time to eat if you like; the portkey leaves in an hour."

She knew this already of course, and after a few more minutes she finally got out of bed and (slowly) began to dress.

Fifteen to twenty minutes later, (10 if she hurried) she was seated at the kitchen table trying her best to be enthusiastic about the bowl of cereal in front of her.

"Mom, is my broom packed?" Victoria asked.

"Yes dear." Her mother replied, "We'll unpack your broom when we get to London, your dad is already there, he left earlier this morning. The rest of us will meet him; he should be from his meeting with the Minister and the Aurors department by the time we get there."

Across the table Olive was in a similar state of not being completely awake, it was early for both of them.

"Why couldn't the port key be earlier?" She grumbled as she finished her cereal.

"Your father has to report to the British Ministry by 10 AM, London time, with the time difference that should give us a few more hours to get settled; for today at least." Her mother replied.

An hour later they were all hiking out from the now deserted house. Everything had been packed and shrunk into boxes or suitcases and was being levitated or dragged and it was still early enough that any passing Muggles would not see the activity. Victoria was currently being carried by her mother who one arm and her wand in the other, it made for slow travel but with her father already in London it was the best her mother could do.

The port key was scheduled to go off in a park around the corner, so at least the walk wasn't very far. Her mother searched the park for several minutes before locating what appeared to be a normal tin can, then she glanced at her watch which read in bright orange letters: "slightly early" and she nodded to herself as if confirming something. After a few minutes the port key began to glow and her mother spoke as she took Olive's hand.

"Everyone hang on!" Then they all hung on to each other and they were off!

Victoria rarely traveled by port key, normally she didn't have the need to and everywhere she had to be she was either transported by Side along Apparation or by broom. She felt the familiar jerk at her middle section and she was only dimly aware of everything else around her, the faintest hint of someone holding on before they all ended up on a hillside overlooking a small town.

Victoria looked around her. It was about what she had expected with the town bustling about in the early afternoon.

"Olive take the suitcases please, the house is just over this way… Your father should be back by now."

Moving slowly, her mother continued to levitate the boxes and suitcases, she was about to take a break when there was a soft "pop" a few feet away.

"Oh, Jeffrey, thank goodness!" Her mother exclaimed, "Can you take Victoria back to the house and then help me with these boxes?"

"Sure thing, love." Her father said amiably as he took Victoria and then began walking briskly over the hill. After a few feet her father Apparated again and they were standing next to a modest walk up on a relatively quiet street.

Then he tapped the doorknob of the house with his wand and entered.

Upon entering, the house was empty except for a few odds and ends in the entryway which Victoria was sure her father had placed their earlier. Waving his wand her father conjured a soft cushy chair and set her in it before speaking.

"I have to help your mother and sister bring in the rest of the things, I'll be back soon."

Her family returned a short time later and spent the better part of the day bustling around organizing the house. She and Olive decided who got which room and Victoria spent the rest of the afternoon until dinner time organizing her own space. She was already looking forward to her school shopping in Diagon Alley in the next few weeks. While she didn't have to buy everything she still had to get school robes and a few other things before beginning her term at Hogwarts.

Another three weeks passed surprisingly smoothly, her father had started work at the British Ministry and her mother was preparing for the trip to Diagon Alley. Victoria had spent the last 3 weeks when she wasn't getting settled talking to Jeremiah using the two-way mirrors they had gotten when they had first started at the American Wizard Institute along with her school supplies Victoria was still thinking about the other two items she wanted to buy-an owl and a broomstick.

"Can't you use one of the school owls?" Her mother asked.

"Sure," Victoria replied, "but not continuously, besides you know how hard it would be for me to get up to the school owlery?"

Finally her mother sighed.

"We can look." She finally replied.

"And my broom?"

"I'll think about it." Her mother answered, "but you may not get anything for your birthday or Christmas."

An hour later they were all standing in Diagon Alley. Their first stop was Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and as was her habit, she always knew when Hogwarts students walked through her doors.

"Hogwarts dears?" She asked in a friendly, warm voice and Victoria and her sisters spent the next few minutes being fitted for robes, Madame conjuring a special chair for Victoria to sit in while she took measurements all the while muttering to herself.

"Girl is no bigger than a pixie…" She muttered before retreating to the back of the shop and returning with one of the smallest pairs of robes Victoria had ever seen. "I think they should fit dear, but if you need more I'm afraid I'm going to have to special order."

After stopping to get their robes and books (they needed several new volumes that the American school didn't require) they stopped for lunch, but Victoria was looking forward to going to Eylops Owl Emporium and Quality Quidditch Supplies.

"Let's get the broom first." Her mother said in a tired voice. "I don't fancy taking an owl into Quality Quidditch Supplies."

Victoria agreed, her mother had a point.

Quality Quidditch Supplies was crowded as Victoria had expected and while her sister disappeared into Flourish and Blotts, Victoria and her mother went in search of a new broom. It took a while to explain to the sale wizard what they wanted and what it was going to be used for and he only looked at them and frowned as if he had never heard of a broom being used in such a way before.

"If it's going to be modified Madame," he told her mother, "may I suggest a Nimbus or an older Firebolt model."

"I need a more multipurpose broom." Victoria added, "I need something that will go slow enough indoors, but fast enough outdoors."

The punchy looking wizard, considered then nodded and returned a few minutes later with a sleek looking model. The handle was almost black with the finally trimmed twigs Victoria associated with the Firebolt models.

"This is last year's model for Firebolt, it flies well and it turns nicely, so I think it will slow down gradually enough that it would work suitably indoors, but it would require good handling to do so."

"Do you have any sort of tether that would prevent to one from falling off?" Her mother asked (she was always worrying about Victoria falling off her broom, but with the old Nimbus that was hardly a concern).

The wizard considered, clearly the situation was making him think.

"I have a tether, but they're mostly for stunt and distance flying, or Merlin forbid you have a Seeker doing the Wronski Feint."

Victoria smirked to herself.

The sales wizard returned a few minutes later with a small strap of leather and showed it to her mother.

"Like I said madame, these are mostly used by Quidditch players and a few Aurors I know so they don't get blown off course flying halfway to who knows where."

Her mother studied the piece of leather critically.

"It should work." She said decisively, "We'll just have to try it."

A little over an hour later they were walking out of Quality Quidditch Supplies; with a broom wrapped in heavy brown paper. Victoria was pleased with her broom and even though it wasn't the current model, it would work well for what she had in mind.

Their next stop was the Emporium. The shop was dusty, crowded and noisy and it took some maneuvering but Victoria was finally inside her broom drifting sluggishly in the cramped space.

"What can I do for you today?" The witch behind the counter asked.

"My daughter's going to be starting school," her mother explained, "she wants an owl."

"Oh, we had several to choose from… Several breeds and a few good flyers that will make excellent mail delivery…" She rattled on for a few more minutes. Carefully Victoria made her way through the crowded aisles. She finally selected an owl at the very back of the shop, a stately looking horned owl who regarded her imperiously, but he looked like he would get the job done.

I first her mother wasn't too keen on that particular owl saying it was too big and she was probably better something smaller.

"What about the Christmas packages mom, and owl any smaller than that isn't going to be to carry a full size box!" She reasoned, her voice rising several degrees in the small space causing several witches and wizards to turn around and look for the source of the noise.

It was late in the afternoon when they left of the Emporium, the entire excursion had cost Victoria over 100 galleons, most of which she would have to pay back to her mother at some point. She considered she would be glad when she was out of school and she can make her own money. Afterwards, they picked Olive up at Flourish and Blotts where she was contentedly reading and Floo home from the Leaky Cauldron, which was no easy task given their large parcels and one indignant owl.

Less than two weeks later, it was September 1 and Victoria and Olive prepared to head for Kings Cross.

That morning was like any other morning except that it wasn't. Victoria was up unusually early and dressed in everything except her outer robe for school. Afterwards, she glanced at herself in the mirror on her far wall. The mirror had been a gift from her father from a friend at work who had traveled to Germany and bought an enchanted mirror, they were more common in that part of the world although they weren't too common in the States or in Britain that she knew of.

"You look very nice dear." The mirror told her in a slightly sleepy voice and she took in her reflection. A small witch with dark hair and eyes stared back at her, she was currently seated on her new Firebolt which hovered serenely at the exact height she desired. The broom was good, but it would still require some practice to learn how to fly it properly.

When she came down for breakfast Olive was already dressed in her full school robes eating a bowl of cereal. There was no way her sister looked like your average second year, Victoria thought, her sister was tall for her age taking after their father in height and stature.

As soon as she was finished with her breakfast her mother helped her on with her robe.

"The car will be here soon." She said, "Your father rented down for the morning."

Sure enough the Ministry cars pulled up shortly after 10 AM. The trunks and Victoria's owl, now christened Alastair after a famous Auror, were loaded into the trunks. Needless to say it was not a quiet trip to Kings Cross.

Finally they arrived at Kings Cross with 20 minutes to spare. It took some negotiation but finally everything was out of the car and being pushed on trolleys towards Platform 9 and Three Quarters. Her mother was pulling Victoria's trolley behind her while Victoria flew at shoulder height alongside the rest of the group.

In a matter of minutes everyone was on the crowded platform. There were parents and students everywhere; moms and dads making it sure everyone was settled before the train took off. Olive was easy she was on the train in a matter of minutes as soon as her trunk was settled, all she needed was her stack of Muggle novels and she would be good until they arrived at Hogwarts.

Victoria was a little harder and it took her father several minutes to settle her in a compartment giving her one last piece of information.

"I had an owl from Minerva this morning…" Her father explained, "Professor Hagrid will be there to meet you, he will get you off the train and up to the castle." Then her father gave her one last kiss and hastily departed the train to stand next to her mother on the platform waving one last time as the whistle blew again and the Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station.


	5. Welcome to Hogwarts

**AN: I did write the sorting hat song in this chapter. Hope you enjoy.**

 **Chapter 4- Welcome to Hogwarts**

The train ride to Hogwarts was uneventful. Probably the most interesting thing to Victoria was the fact she had never been on a train before, the closest being the occasional trolley ride around Washington DC. For most of the long ride Victoria kept to herself staring out the window and amusing herself by making up stories about the interesting things she passed.

Around lunchtime, she paid for some sweets off the lunch trolley ate them before reading a chapter of a book she had brought with her and sleeping for the rest of the journey.

When she awoke it was dark outside she also noticed she had a horrible crick in her neck. Hazard of sleeping on a train in a weird position, she reflected.

She was determining what to do next when there was a tap on the compartment door. It opened revealing a man who must be the conductor.

"Reaching Hogwarts in 5 minutes ma'am, your father spoke to me before he got off the train at Kings Cross, I'll be happy to help you if you like."

Victoria turned to look at the young man, he had short blonde hair and a plain, slightly rounded face, but his striking blue eyes seemed kind.

She nodded.

"Thank you," she replied, "I'll let you know."

The young conductor managed a grin.

"Right then, I'll be back in a few minutes miss."

Finally the train stopped with a shudder and a creak at Hogsmeade station and the students began to file off, Victoria patiently waiting for someone to help her. She looked around for the young conductor who appeared in the sea of black robes a few minutes later.

In his hand he had her Firebolt.

"Just wait until all the other students are off, then that should set you right."

So Victoria waited until the last black robe had disappeared off the train before she accepted the conductor's help to get onto her broom and off the train and onto the platform. She followed the mass of black over to where she could see a bobbing light. This was followed by a loud gruff voice bellowing:

"First years, first years, this way please!"

The man holding the light was something to behold, he seemed to be twice as tall as your average man and four times as big around. He had a large coat that hung down to his equally large boots which that gave the impression of tree trunks. He had a ruddy looking face which was obscured by copious amounts of wild black hair, but instead of looking ferocious he looked kind and Victoria heard him chuckle as the first years flooded around him and he greeted students he knew by name. He seemed to be searching for something and after moving forward a few paces, the students parting like the Red Sea, he spotted her and he smiled.

"Well," he said, "yeh must be Victoria, the headmistress mentioned yeh; guess it's my responsibility to get yeh up to the castle. Name's Hagrid." He extended a hand the size of a trashcan lid for her to shake.

Victoria only nodded, feeling dumbstruck. This was nothing however compared to what happened next, Hagrid simply picked her up (broomstick and all) and started making his way towards the castle giving his lantern to a nervous looking first-year boy with blonde hair and freckles.

"This way teh the boats!" He called over his shoulder.

A short while later, Victoria found herself in a boat with four other students, most of them were younger than she was, which she expected. A few boats away she saw Olive, her nose still stuck in a book as she climbed into the back of one of the boats with a few other students; Victoria wondered if she was ever going to look up long enough to see the castle, which loomed magnificently in the distance. Slowly the small fleet of boats made their way across the dark lake which looked like polished glass in the moonlight.

Victoria clutched her broomstick in anticipation and while she felt out of place with the younger students she was eagerly anticipating the welcome she knew most new students received.

Finally the boats docked at a small peer below the castle and they were led up to the great oak doors; Hagrid still carrying her, only shifting her slightly in his large arms to knock twice on the doors.

They opened neatly to reveal a stern looking woman with her graying hair pulled back in a tight bun.

"Headmistress. The first years…an, Ms. Smith ma'am… As you asked." Hagrid finally deposited her back on her broom and Victoria made her way back into the throng of students,even then she heard the murmurs from the students.

"Blimey, what she got a broom for?"

Hagrid paused briefly and he glanced over the crowd of students again.

"Oh yeah, 'er sister's here too, got 'er nose stuck in a book last time I saw."

"Very well Hagrid," the headmistress replied, "I'll take it from here."

They were led into a small room to the side of a pair of large closed doors even bigger than the main doors. Victoria listened with half an ear as the headmistress, who said her name was McGonagall outlined various rules and regulations, most of them were similar to the ones she had heard at her old school so she wasn't too concerned. She figured most of the specifications she required would be addressed before she began classes the following morning.

"We're ready for you now." McGonagall finally said some 10 minutes later when she had once again returned to the room and the students were led into the adjoining room.

The room was a great hall which was filled with students and teachers. There were four tables, each filled with students in black robes. Their group was led down the center aisle up towards the table where the teachers were sitting. Victoria saw Hagrid among them along with a witch with a kind face in what looked like a nurse's uniform, an average looking wizard with nondescript features and a kind face, Victoria recognized him from the books she had read about the Battle of Hogwarts this was the herbology professor, Professor Longbottom. Then there was a large square looking wizard with an equally large mustache he looked pleasant enough and was drinking something from a goblet as he talked to Professor Longbottom. At the far end of the table was another empty chair, but Victoria can only guess who sat there. The center chair was also empty and Victoria figured this was where the headmistress sat.

A stool was brought forward and sat before the staff table and an old dilapidated looking hat sat on top of it.

There was a moment of silence before a rip opened at the base of the hat and it began to sing.

The battle is long gone

And evil defeated

Lets look up with new eyes;

So all be seated

The new crop comes

Every year for my inspection

So that I may, I hope, point you in the right direction

You may find yourself along the path of Gryffindor

Where courage and boldness are so prized

You may find yourself along the path of Ravenclaw

Where smarts are the thing, and brains are prized for noodling and thinking

You may find yourself in Hufflepuff-for those are set apart-

For they are known for kindness that should be in every heart

Or lastly find yourself in Slytherin-ambitious to the core

Though this House has not the reputation that it did before

So step right up, don't be shy

Put me on your head,

For I will look inside your mind

And see where your thoughts have led.

The hall burst into applause and the hat gave a small bow before falling silent once more. It was only then McGonagall picked it up and drew a large scroll from within her robes and addressed the students in front of her, who had formed a disjointed line along the front of the hall.

"When I call your name, I will put the Sorting Hat on your head and it will tell you in which house you belong."

Victoria didn't pay attention to the first half of the sorting, she was at the back of the line and so it would be a while before either Olive or herself were sorted. The only face she took note of was the small boy who had carried Hagrid's lantern on the way to the lake.

"MARTIN, SIMON" the headmistress called and Simon scuttled forward and sat on the stool. The hat fell over his eyes almost obscuring his entire head completely.

"RAVENCLAW!" The hat declared.

Finally it was Olive's turn and it was only as they had entered the hall and lined up to be sorted Victoria noticed her younger sister pulled her head out of the book she was reading.

"SMITH, OLIVE" McGonagall said crisply.

Olive made her way up to the stool and sat down and it was only a few seconds later the hat made its decision.

"RAVENCLAW!" The hat shouted. Victoria watched as her sister bounced off the stool and headed over to a table on the right side of the room.

"SMITH, VICTORIA"

Carefully, Victoria maneuvered her way to the front of the crowd, and still sitting on her broom McGonagall placed the hat on her head. Like Simon Martin it fell down over her eyes, which told her is about three sizes too big.

After a few moments she heard a small voice in her ear.

"Hmm… There's bravery, oh yes, lots of that. Very talented, very, very talented, a wonderful heart… But yet, lots of ambition. Hmm…" The hat said again. "Tricky, very tricky…" There was a momentary pause before the hat shouted:

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The table on the far left side of the hall exploded in cheers and Victoria made her way to the table carefully steering her broom with her right knee so she was parallel and close enough to the table. She only left herself enough room so she could see what was going on at the front of the hall, her broom alternating between facing the table and the activity at the front of the hall, the seats on the broom turning independently.

The headmistress made a few announcements before every dish and plate on every table had filled with food. While McGonagall made the beginning of term announcements a slender looking wizard with sandy blonde hair hurried into the hall and took the seat at the end of the staff table in the chair that Victoria had noticed earlier. With an abrupt a shock she recognized the wizard that had helped her off the train earlier that evening.

Victoria could tell a lot of the students had questions, but refrained from asking them probably because they were afraid of offending her. She would answer the questions in due time, but at the moment she was starving, her poor excuse for a lunch and her nap had seemed ages ago.

She took her wand out of her pocket, and still keeping it under the table she muttered a couple of charms and her silverware began to cut the food by itself.

"Why you doing that?" A girl with long blonde hair asked.

Victoria looked up, shoving her wand back in her pocket.

"The girl wasn't particularly pretty but she was interesting. She had thick glasses and a bookish appearance,

"I can't use my hands very well," Victoria replied, "this is easier."

"Won't you get in trouble?" The girl asked.

Victoria only shrugged, at the moment she didn't have an answer.

Then the girl spoke up again, her concern about Victoria getting in trouble seem to have passed.

"My name is Laura Scrimgeour. My uncle was killed during the war a few years ago."

"What year?" Victoria inquired, it would be nice to make friends with a few girls in her own here and not just the new students coming in.

"Fourth." Laura answered.

Victoria nodded. "Me too." She extended her hand making a proper introduction. "Victoria Smith, my dad transferred here from the US, he's helping out the Ministry so I'll be here for a while."

She and Laura continued to talk for the remainder of dinner and after a while the food disappeared, the magic of which was a mystery to her, and they were ushered up to their dormitories, but despite the late hour Victoria intended to do two things, find a bathroom suitable for accommodating the turning radius of a Firebolt and write a letter to Jeremiah to send off with Alastair as soon as possible.

As it turned out it was Laura who happened to have the solution about the bathroom.

"Try the Room of Requirement, seventh floor by the tapestry."

Sometime later Victoria returned to the common room, which took some maneuvering considering she had no idea where it was, but finally she asked one of the prefects and was able to get up to Gryffindor tower without any further problems.

She spent the last hour before going to bed composing a letter to Jeremiah.

 _Jeremiah-_

 _Hogwarts is amazing! I'm in Gryffindor and my sister is in Ravenclaw. The opening feast was incredible; of course I was starving by the time we got there! Still figuring out the ins and outs of being disabled around here, can't get into any of the bathrooms except a special room on the seventh floor which changes into anything you want whenever you need it (convenient huh?)_

 _Classes start tomorrow, you know me, can't wait for History of Magic, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. How about you? How are classes going? Still blowing everybody away in Potions?_

 _It's late here, classes start pretty early,_

 _Always,_

 _Victoria_

Finally Victoria said down her quill, and folded the letter. Going into the nearest window, she opened it and let out a loud low whistle.

A few minutes later Alastair appeared, hopped onto the table and extended his leg for her to tie the letter on (which she had to do with a few choice charms).

"Take this to Jeremiah, okay." She murmured to the owl who gave a low throaty hoot before flying out the open window.

Victoria watched until the owl had disappeared then she turned her broom and made her way up to the girls' dormitory. Everyone in the fourth year dormitory was sound asleep and Victoria made her way to her four-poster, muttered "lumos" to her wand, and got undressed before sliding off her broom and flopping in the bed. She waved her wand at her broom which settled down vertically near the nightstand. Setting her wand aside, she fluffed a pillow or two and settled down. It was only after a few minutes after listening to the unfamiliar noise of the dormitory she fell asleep.


	6. History, Charms, and Defense

**Chapter 5-History, Charms and Defense**

Acclimating herself to the castle and a schedule went fairly smoothly (aside from getting lost down to the Great Hall that first morning). The other thing Victoria was still getting used to was the food, she was usually quite particular about what 8 and like to eat and getting used to the food of a completely different country was another thing entirely. Fortunately, at Hogwarts there were a number of food choices for every meal so Victoria wasn't lacking in anything if she didn't like immediately what she saw.

That morning Victoria ate breakfast with Laura before the head of Gryffindor House, Professor Longbottom began handing out schedules. Looking around, Victoria noticed the other heads of house were doing the same.

She was one of the last people Professor Longbottom handed a schedule to. Along with her class schedule were a number of notes from McGonagall.

The first read as follows:

 _Ms. Smith is allowed the following for the duration of the term:_

 _1 broomstick; to aid in personal transportation_

 _use of self writing quills and other specialty writing implements_

 _if she desires a specific notetaker and help with exams when needed_

 _extra time on any and all homework if necessary_

 _use of magic outside of class to aid in accomplishing everyday tasks_

 _use of the Room of Requirement whenever necessary_

 _Minerva McGonagall_

 _Headmistress_

The second note had a similar notation this time to her professors (there were 5 of these notes, each identical to the first)

 _This informs all professors instructing Ms. Smith of the following regulations:_

Attached to this note was the same piece of parchment Victoria had read a few moments ago stating the special circumstances the headmistress was allowing her.

The schedule wasn't too bad Victoria decided and was still mulling this over when there was the sound of fluttering wings overhead.

Laura looked up.

"Mails here, expecting anything?" She asked.

Victoria searched the crowd of owls for Alastair.

"A letter." Victoria replied shortly and was about to return to her breakfast when Alastair made his entrance, nearly knocking over the jug of pumpkin juice in the middle of the table.

Sure enough he had a letter in his beak, which Victoria took from him as he momentarily preened his ruffled feathers before taking off for the owlery.

Victoria glanced at her watch realizing she only had about 10 minutes before her first class. Realizing, she wouldn't have enough time to give the letter the time it deserved she shoved it in her bag along with the rest of her supplies, which included 3 spell books, parchment, quills and her wand. She would retrieve her supplies for her afternoon classes after lunch.

That morning they had Transfiguration with Ravenclaw which went fairly well. McGonagall had given Victoria a rat to transfigure considering she was so far ahead with her work. Victoria thought she heard her mutter something about being ready for her OWLS by the end of the year.

Victoria spent a few minutes chasing the rat around her desk with her wand before putting it in a partial body bind before beginning her work. She had gotten pretty far so, the rat, which was supposed to be transfigured into a pair of fluffy wool socks was looking much more streamlined, comfortable, and fluffy. At least she had managed to get rid of the tail, head and ears, so something, leg less, tailess was squirming across her desk.

"Excellent!" McGonagall praised, "A bit more work I think, but I think you should try the incantation without putting the subject in a body bind first Ms. Smith."

They spent the rest of the period taking notes on the incantation they had been practicing, victorious were particularly thorough as she went back trying to figure out where the incantation had failed her.

Charms was very similar to Transfiguration, although she was much more successful with her incantations. Charms was one of her better subjects and she was so successful she had most of the cushions zooming around the classroom by the end of the period. Professor Flitwick, was beaming, jumping up and down so excitedly that he nearly fell off the chair he was standing on.

"My, my," he squeaked, "haven't had a witch this talented with charms since Lily Potter or perhaps Hermione Granger!"

Needless to say Victoria was beaming by the time she left the classroom, the fourth-year Gryffindors were chattering excitedly and Laura was still patting her on the back.

"That was incredible, you nearly blew Flitwick away, and that's saying something!" She gave an uncharacteristic giggle.

Defense Against the Dark Arts had always been Victoria's favorite subject and she was looking forward to meeting the young professor who taught it.

The students were still chattering when Professor Quinn walked into the classroom. As Victoria had suspected, he was the young man she had seen on the train who she had thought was the conductor. He smiled at Victoria as he took his place at the front of the class. A wave of his wand showed his name on the blackboard.

Today they were practicing shielding charms, and while Victoria was good at them her duration for holding one needed a bit more work, if she got distracted at all the shield would break and she would get hit in the face by whatever spell was being cast at her.

"Concentrate, clear your mind and focus!" Professor Quinn was saying. He took some time to straighten Victoria's wand arm and told her to try the spell again. It was only after doing this without thinking about the letter in her school bag she was able to repel the spell being cast. She managed to do this several times before the end of the period. By the end of class Professor Quinn was beaming.

"I can't wait to see your dueling techniques Ms. Smith, what you lack in movement you can make up for with the strength of your spells, very impressive."

Before lunch on that first day Victoria already at home work in her first 3 classes, an essay on the incantation for making wool socks from McGonagall, the use of intermediate flying charms for Flitwick and a piece on the practical uses of shield charms from Quinn. Needless to say, Victoria was relieved when she finally sat down with Laura after their last morning class.

"All this homework is crazy!" Laura complained, "It's only our first day back."

Victoria shrugged.

"I'll get it done, probably sometime tonight, Quinn's essay is short so it won't take me very long."

Finally, Victoria was able to open her letter from Jeremiah, her lunch hour was almost an hour which gave her plenty of time before her first afternoon class to read the letter at her leisure.

She read:

 _Victoria-_

 _Glad to hear where you ended up, Gryffindor is a great house. I think I would have ended up in Ravenclaw had I been there._

 _Classes are going well I have this mile-long essay for History of Magic; we have to write about a wizarding event in the twentieth century, I chose the Battle of Hogwarts… I think I'm regretting that now, I have so much information I'm on my third roll of parchment. All I have to say is I hope I get an "O" on it, I've turned the library upside down (not that it's hard). Tell you more about it when we use the two-way mirrors later (call me tonight) I also have an essay (for Potions) I have to write on truth serum._

 _How's DADA going? Teacher good? Learn anything interesting yet, let me know._

 _Call you tonight, reply back with a time._

 _Jeremiah_

Victoria's first class that afternoon was History of Magic. To say History of Magic was one of the more challenging classes was an understatement. Professor Binns, the only professor who was a ghost, was notorious for giving long lectures which had you writing feet upon feet of parchment, and Victoria wasn't really that surprised when she had at least 3 feet of notes in an hour. She made a note to herself to organize the notes at a later date.

Today they were learning about the famous wars in medieval times and how they differed from modern wizarding warfare, and as Victoria expected they had homework. Somehow she found she would probably end up citing the Battle of Hogwarts in her homework as well and not just because it was a notable event in wizarding history. At least she would have something to discuss with Jeremiah when she called him later.

Victoria's last class that day was Potions in the Slytherin dungeon. Victoria had only heard of the former professor Snape who had died during the war, but she liked Slughorn, he was funny and witty and made the subject surprisingly enjoyable. Potions wasn't her best subject, but she was decent at it, the hardest thing was cutting up ingredients and getting them in the right quantities. Usually she could ruin a potion to easily if she tapped too much of one ingredient into her cauldron. Taking notes was easier.

Victoria much preferred having Potions with Jeremiah, at least he could help her and they usually did their homework together; just another thing she was missing.

Before dinner, Victoria took some time to decompress while Laura went back to the common room to start in on her mountain of homework. She decided to take her Firebolt for a spin, it was still relatively warm and probably wouldn't get cold for at least another month, and until Quidditch started at the end of October she would have the Quidditch pitch and grounds to herself.

Tightening her tether around her waist, hip, and ankle Victoria took off. It was probably the fastest she had flown her broom in a long time. She loved the way the wind whipped through her hair and revived her after a long day inside. Again she was missing Jeremiah- that was another thing they did together-fly (although flying on her old Nimbus was a joke). It was only when her stomach began to rumble and her watch began shrieking shrilly she descended and made her way back to the castle.


	7. Hogsmeade

**A lot of this chapter is based off my relationship with my real life best friend and how we deal with our long-distance relationship. We do communicate like Victoria and Jeremiah do in this chapter (except with text messages, not owls LOL!)**

 **…**

 **Chapter 6-Hogmeade**

The entire common room was deserted by the time Victoria had finished her homework. Aside from the glow of the fire there was little light in the room. She knew it was late and idly wondered what Jeremiah was doing and if he would remember to use the mirror like he had promised.

Just as she was thinking this the mirror, which was still on the table where she was working began to glow and as she picked it up Jeremiah's smiling face appeared.

"Bit late over there, isn't it?" Victoria asked as she picked up the mirror.

Within the small frame Jeremiah shrugged.

"It's dinner time, so not too late." He answered, before peering into the mirror. "I should be asking you that, isn't it past midnight there?"

"I was up…" Victoria replied vaguely, "I was finishing my homework."

"That busy, huh?" Jeremiah asked.

Victoria laughed.

"You better believe it." She paused, "I wish you were here about, Potions hasn't been the same without you."

The talk turned to their individual schoolwork and discussing History of Magic in general since they were both writing an essay on a similar topic, but after a while Victoria turned to the other reason for her call.

"Do you think you'll be able to come to Hogsmeade?" She asked, "They usually have weekends a couple of times a month."

"Maybe," Jeremiah replied, "I have to ask my parents about a portkey… But definitely over the holidays, I promise."

Finally Victoria did go to bed, promising Jeremiah she would send him an owl with the date of the next Hogsmeade weekend. As she got ready for bed, she turned her attention to the picture of herself and Jeremiah but she kept on her nightstand.

The picture had been taken the previous year outside the Institute. She and Jeremiah had been sitting under a tree when someone had snapped the picture. They were grinning into the camera their arms around each other. A lot of people had thought they were dating and she was sure if Jeremiah went to Hogwarts it would be no different. She looked once again at their smiling faces before turning out the light, a smile on her face.

Over the next month the weather got progressively cooler, while it had yet to snow, it had gotten cold enough Victoria had to spend most of her time wearing a cloak over her robes. It was the second to last week in September when Victoria finally got word out to Jeremiah about the Hogsmeade weekend, to which he replied to the following morning.

 _ **Victoria-**_

 _ **Talked to my parents about taking the portkey for October 6… My brother is working in the area that weekend so I'm coming over with him. They did say, however, we're most likely looking to book another international portkey sometime around Christmas-I'll definitely see you then.**_

 _ **Jeremiah**_

After reading the note Victoria couldn't stop smiling, it was the best news she had gotten in a while. She hadn't seen Jeremiah in person since before she had left in June.

"What are you so happy about?" Laura asked as they ate lunch before their afternoon classes on Friday.

"My best friend from America is coming into Hogsmeade in October. He's coming over with his brother who works in the Auror department, who has some international work to do."

"Brilliant!" Laura said with a smile, "I always see you talking to that two-way mirror… I guess you really miss him a lot."

Victoria nodded.

"I do."

Jeremiah and his brother came into Hogsmeade early the morning of October 6. That morning, he sent a brief note with a ruffled looking barn owl letting Victoria know he had arrived.

 _Victoria-_

 _Sending this with my brother's owl, D'Angelo, and he's the only one I have right now. I didn't bring my own owl with me since I was only going to be gone for a couple of days._

This made sense, Jeremiah had a snowy owl Einstein, named after a famous Muggle scientist. Victoria usually only saw Einstein if she and Jeremiah were planning to meet and he was sending the message, but most of his news had come with Alastair. She continued reading.

 _We arrived pretty early this morning after Jason got word about his assignment, we're staying at the Hogsmeade inn until Sunday._

 _See you later,_

 _Jeremiah_

Victoria hurried through her breakfast before dashing back up to her dorm (although she wasn't quite sure how quickly you could dash flying a broomstick up a staircase) and retrieved her cloak, a hat and a scarf before joining Laura in the entryway of the castle.

Filch, the caretaker, who Victoria had been told to avoid, was checking off names on a long piece of parchment. She impatiently waited until he gave her and Laura a curt nod before allowing them to walk out of the castle and off the grounds.

On a whim, Victoria had shoved her two-way mirror in her jeans pocket, and was somewhat startled when it began to vibrate. Holding her broomstick with one hand, which was drifting lazily next to Laura, she reached into her pocket, knowing it was Jeremiah.

"Hey," she greeted, "long time no see."

Jeremiah grinned, his bright eyes twinkling.

"Meet me in The 3 Broomsticks," he laughed quietly, "almost forgot to tell you where to meet; I only remembered after I sent D'Angelo off this morning."

"Yeah alright." Victoria replied, "I'll see you in a bit, right now I've got a broomstick to fly." She disconnected the call.

When she reached what she figured was The 3 Broomsticks Jeremiah was waiting outside for her. He was wearing his cloak and had his hands in his jeans pockets.

As she and Laura drew close and the Firebolt coasted to a stop Victoria made the introductions.

"Jeremiah, this is Laura Scrimgour, she's in my year… We met when we first started the term. Laura, this is my friend Jeremiah Knott."

Jeremiah nodded.

"Nice to meet you."

The three of them got a table at The 3 Broomsticks, but after a while Victoria could tell Laura felt out of place and she left, making her apologies saying she was going over to the joke shop across the road and would meet up with them later. Meanwhile, she and Jeremiah ordered a couple of butter beers and things fell into the old pattern they had when they had been at school together, talking about everything from potions homework to how the school Quidditch teams were doing that year.

"We just had tryouts a couple of weeks ago," Jeremiah said, "the Chasers are decent but the Seeker and the Beaters, suck; Rebecca Hopefield couldn't hit the broadside of a barn." He looked momentarily disgusted. "The Keeper isn't too bad though." Jeremiah wasn't one for sports, but I knew he kept up with Quidditch just so we had something to talk about.

"The House teams are good enough, at least that's what I've heard from other students." Victoria replied, "I'm actually thinking of trying out, either for Chaser or Seeker; at least I have the broom for it."

"Yeah, I saw that." Jeremiah replied with a smile, "Nice Firebolt, all the models after 1999 were all so much cleaner, Jason says turning radius of the Firebolt 2000 is incredible… From what I've heard."

I nodded.

"Yeah, I've only flown it outside a couple of times, I'll probably fly more when the weather gets nicer in the spring. The only thing it sucks at turning in a bathroom."

Then Victoria began to tell him about The Room of Requirements and what she was using it for. His expression alternated between surprise and looking impressed.

Afterwards they migrated towards the direction of Honeydukes sweetshop. The shop was enormous and it didn't take long for the two of them to come out with bags and bags of candy.

It was almost 3 o'clock by then and Victoria didn't realize how long they had been talking.

"Hey I have to head back and find Laura," Victoria finally cut in, "I'll do homework for a little bit before going down for dinner."

Jeremiah nodded and reached over to give her an awkward sideways hug.

"I'll see you at Christmas." Victoria mumbled into his shoulder.

"See you at Christmas." Jeremiah replied.

"I'll write you and tell you about Quidditch and the school tryouts." She promised.

Jeremiah looked momentarily serious.

"Look, don't stress too much about Potions, if you need any help over the holidays I'll help you then, okay."

Victoria smiled gratefully.

"Thanks." She smiled into his eyes one last time, as if she were trying to imprint everything about his face on her mind.

They said another quick goodbye before they parted ways and Victoria went in search of Laura.


	8. Quidditch Tryouts

**Chapter 7-Quidditch Tryouts**

School proved to be a welcomed distraction for Victoria following her meeting and visit with Jeremiah. As she expected, she missed him terribly and it was all she could do to keep her mind focused on her schoolwork. It spoke volumes about where her mind was when she had a kitten with a smoking tail by the end of one particular Charms lesson, and only mumbled something about being to Flitwick about being distracted. Laura still hadn't let her live that one down.

She had been stunned multiple times in Defense Against the Dark Arts the week they were practicing stunning spouts because she wasn't paying attention, but Professor Quinn was much more forgiving than Flitwick and McGonagall had been. Victoria certainly wasn't going to tell him why she was distracted, she had a sneaky suspicion he might have a crush on her even though he was probably twice her age.

It wasn't until she was making doodles and scribbling notes to Jeremiah on the edges of her History notes before Laura said something.

"Blimey, Victoria you are distracted, you usually much more focused than that." Victoria only nodded mutely continuing listening to the lecture with half an ear, Laura's inquiries forestalled for the time being. She didn't start with the questions until later that afternoon after their last class. It was shortly before dinner and Victoria was squeezing in some time to work on her essay for Binns.

It was only then Laura continued her inquiries from earlier, sounding somewhat dumbstruck.

"You like him don't you, this Jeremiah?"

Victoria didn't answer, she was quite sure her flaming cheeks said enough. Needless to say Laura teased her for the rest of the evening.

The other distraction Victoria needed came in the form of the upcoming Quidditch tryouts. A sign-up was put in each of the common rooms the second weekend in October with the tryouts scheduled for the following Thursday at 7 PM.

On the sign up sheet Victoria wrote the following.

 **Victoria Smith, Year 4, position: Chaser\Seeker**

It was only after this Laura had something else to bug her about besides her relationship with Jeremiah (which frankly, Victoria thought was none of her business).

"How are you going to manage?" Laura asked. "Are they going to let you fly with all your accommodations?"

Victoria shrugged.

"I don't know." She answered, "If they don't I'll talk to the Captain."

The evening of the tryouts Laura and Victoria made their way down to the Quidditch pitch. There was a small knot of students milling about clearly just as nervous as Victoria was, and after seeing Victoria safely to the pitch, Laura retreated to the stands to watch and finish her Potions essay.

Victoria knew most of the students were probably better flyers than her and there was a slim chance of her making the team (providing no one else tried out for a certain position). There were some really good flyers a girl named Pansy Crystal who was trying out for the other Beater position and a trio of guys that were trying out for the Chaser positions. There were only two other people trying out for Seeker, a second year with mousy brown hair and a tall dark skinned fifth-year with a nose ring. Victoria was definitely odd man out.

It turned out being a Chaser was more difficult than Victoria thought. She barely made it around the pitch once without dropping the Quaffle and was after several attempts the Captain and other Beater Gregory Kingsley (a strapping sixth year who looked like a bulldog) called her down and made her sit on the sidelines waiting for the Seeker tryouts.

Victoria was surprisingly good at being a Seeker she found out despite her weak hands she was incredibly fast. Using her technique of turning the broom with her knees she cut down on a lot of drag her biggest obstacle was being able to lean forward far enough to catch the Snitch and having fast enough reflexes. (She spent an entire afternoon the day before practicing with ping-pong balls she had bought at a Muggle sporting goods store; this seemed to help). Her biggest opponent for the position was the fifth year who was slightly faster and much taller.

"A Cleansweep against a Firebolt is a joke!" Laura said flatly when Victoria told her about it later, "If Kingsley doesn't put you on the team he needs his head examined!"

Victoria had a chuckle at this, but awaiting the results still made her nervous. She could hardly wait to be able to write Jeremiah about the results.

That night she wrote Jeremiah, if her self-writing quill could write any faster she would have.

 _Jeremiah-_

 _Tryouts went surprisingly well. I'm terrible as a Chaser, can't catch the Quaffle, fly, and toss it at the same time, Kingsley made me come down after barely five minutes, although I think the Chasers who tried out were pretty good, much better than the ones at AWI, anyway. I'm a pretty good Seeker, but Kingsley says I need to work on my reflexes, catching a snitch is going to be much harder in an actual game with 13 other players (he's right though) what you say? Help me practice over the holidays?_

 _Results to be posted tomorrow morning. I'm so nervous!_

 _I'll let you know if I make it ASAP, look for my owl._

 _Victoria_

As she expected the results of the tryouts were posted the following morning. The 2001 Gryffindor Quidditch team was listed as follows:

 **Keeper-Clarence Higgins**

 **Beater 1-Gregory Kingsley (Captain)**

 **Beater 2-Pansy Crystal**

 **Chaser 1-Thomas Matthews**

 **Chaser 2-Colin Harper**

 **Chaser 3-Sean Hart**

 **Seeker-Victoria Smith**

There was also a list of reserves (like any sports team) Victoria noticed the girl that had tried out for seeker, the tall fifth-year whose name was Desiree Cottenwood, was on this list along with half a dozen other students that could function as stand ins, save anyone was injured or otherwise unable to the baby is free the arena of you go out there will energy him will go for walk is you to play a match.

Victoria was just sitting down to breakfast talking excitedly to Laura about the results when the mail came. As she expected there was a letter from Jeremiah.

 _Victoria-_

 _Glad to hear tryouts one so well. Your team definitely sounds better than some of ours we just had our second game last week, it was brutal! Dorm 13 got flattened by Dorm 15 I think we scared some of the younger students._

Victoria smothered a smile reading this. The dormitories which went from age 8 to age 18 were very competitive. Lower dormitories, ages 8 through 12, weren't allowed to compete on the school teams and the older students, ages 13 through 18, this accounted for 6 school teams, which rotated practices and matches every couple of weeks. Hearing about Jeremiah's assessment of the teams made Victoria realize what she was missing, but there were a number of things she missed about the American school.

She read the last few lines of Jeremiah's letter.

 _I'm writing you this as I'm doing my Divination homework (yuck) Matthew and Aaron are sitting across from me, they are currently using their quills as darts._

 _Let me know if you made the team._

 _Jeremiah_

Victoria smiled as she finished reading the letter. Matthew and Aaron were Jeremiah's only other friends other than her, but they were much more likely to blow off their school work and goof off and if it was Divination Victoria really didn't blame them. Even Jeremiah didn't see the subject as useful, the only thing Victoria liked about Divination was the dream diary they had to write, but she figured she wouldn't do that here at Hogwarts for at least another year.

Still grinning, she scribbled a response with the first quill she could dig out of her bag.

 _Jeremiah-_

 _Made the team! Playing Seeker. Sucks about Dorm 13 losing, but glad our year won Maybe you can come out for a game at Hogwarts sometime?_

 _Got to go to class! Talk to you later._

 _Victoria_

 _PS. Two-way mirror tonight?_

Hastily, she gave the reply to Alastair and the bird took off again and she and Laura headed for class before McGonagall could give them both detection.

and


	9. The First Match

**Chapter 8- The First Match**

The reply to Victoria's brief note to Jeremiah was dropped on her plate the following morning. She managed to catch it before it ended up in her syrup, where she was currently eating sausages and Yorkshire pudding (or popovers, as Americans called them).

"For heaven sakes Alastair!" She scolded the owl, "Not in my breakfast!" The owl only cocked its head, hooted importantly and clicked it speak before spreading its wings and flying off in the direction of the owlery.

"Silly bird." She muttered as she turned her attention to the note, ignoring the smothered laughter from Laura, that was bad enough and she had drawn enough attention from the rest of the Gryffindor table. Sighing, she turned her attention to the note.

 _Victoria-_

 _Congratulations on making the team! I agree about Dorm 13's loss, but it was good for us (our year I mean) the younger teams have some decent players which means by the time they had the higher levels they're going to be unstoppable! By the time I graduate Dorms 13 and 14 are going to have all the good players._

 _I'd love to come watch you play, I'll talk to Jason, maybe if he still working in Scotland next year I can come sometime next term, this is the more secure that was I'll have to check my schedule. I don't know if you'll be able to get away for Thanksgiving, if not, I'll probably use the Floo so we can talk. I'll see you over Christmas I think my mom was talking to your dad about coming in between Christmas and New Year's. We can definitely talk more than._

 _Have to head to class now._

 _Jeremiah_

 _PS I'll send clippings with Einstein of the next match-Dorm 16 against Dorm 14; at the beginning of November. Dickens says the The Ink Spot (_ The Ink Spot was the American Wizarding Institute's official paper) _will be covering it. Dorm 16 is favored to win._

The next few weeks leading up to the first match were busy for Victoria. Between homework and Quidditch practice she barely had a free minute. Briefly she was wondering what she'd gotten herself into thinking she could handle Quidditch and schoolwork, but she kept moving forward, spending most of her free time working on schoolwork.

Kingsley had decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. The strategy was to keep Victoria out of the way until absolutely necessary; that would avoid any potential problems with other players and for herself. Victoria also spent copious amounts of time practicing with the Snitch, but this was usually in the afternoon practices when the Snitch was at least visible. She could catch it; the speed on her Firebolt more than made up for it, but it was coordinating everything else so she could actually catch it that was proving to be a problem.

"Speed and grab!" Kingsley yelled from the left goalpost during one particular practice. "Keep your hand out while you're flying Victoria! Can you do that? Tighten that tether and move it!"

Another thing Victoria was still getting used to having to go fast while in a full dive was easier said than done. The first time she tried it she ended up in the Hospital Wing after getting extremely dizzy. Madame Pompfrey and spent a full 10 minutes yelling at Kingsley for putting her in such a position (Victoria was reminded the school nurse didn't like Quidditch) and it was only after Victoria told the nurse it wasn't his fault that she let up. Kingsley was a nice enough guy, had the situations been different Victoria probably would have dated him.

Finally after much discussion it was agreed (with permission from McGonagall) that Victoria would take an anti-vertigo potion before each match and since such regulations weren't against the official Quidditch rules and gave her no direct advantage, (other than she wouldn't get dizzy diving or pulling out of one.)

Victoria's next mission was to make sure Jeremiah got a full account of the match, so she decided to send him as many pictures as possible, but since she knew no one in her year or House who had a magical camera she was on the hunt for one, which proved to be easier said than done. Finally it was Laura who provided the solution.

"Ask Marvin Marvelo, Ravenclaw, sixth year, I think he has one, always taking pictures of everything."

She finally located Marvin during dinner the day before the match. He was a wiry, tall boy with tousled brown hair and thick glasses. He kind of reminded her of Jeremiah. When Victoria came up to the Ravenclaw table he had a bunch of Herbology notes spread out next to his plate. For a few minutes she just stood there and after she cleared her throat several times he finally looked up.

"Oh, hi," he muttered, pushing his glasses up on his nose, "can I help you?"

"Yeah…" Victoria mumbled, suddenly feeling awkward, "I was wondering if you could take some pictures of the Quidditch match on Saturday for me, I-I want to send some to my friend. I'm Victoria Smith, by the way." She was annoyed to find herself blushing as she continued to babble pretty sure he must think she was insane or something.

"Whoa, whoa," Marvin interjected holding up his hands. "Sure, I'll do it, but just don't expect them until sometime next week, I'll get them to you okay. I have to develop them in a special potion, and I have to get Slughorn's permission to do it. I'll send you an owl when they're ready okay?"

He beamed. He was actually kind of cute if he didn't wear those clunky glasses. Victoria wondered if Harry Potter had ever been so awkward.

"Yeah, sure, thanks." She stammered (and Victoria didn't stammer) still having a stupid grin on her face she had a ridiculous urge to throw her arms around Marvin and kiss him.

The morning of the match Victoria was very nervous. She kept going over Kingsley's plays in her head, if only to keep herself distracted from being more nervous.

She poked her way through breakfast feeling like her stomach was full of slugs. Everything would be better as soon as she got up in the air.

The match that morning was against Ravenclaw and the team was good, maybe not as good as Gryffindor, but good even according to Kingsley they would be a hard team to beat, Victoria only hoped she could catch the Snitch in enough time.

With Pansy Crystal's help she changed into her robes. Pansy had even shrunk the backrest on her broom to make it more streamlined while still giving her support.

"Good luck." Pansy said with a smile, "I really hope you catch it."

"Thanks." Victoria muttered, unsure of what else to say.

After everyone had changed Kingsley gave a last-minute pep talk and before they left the locker room he shoved a small vial into Victoria's hand.

"Anti-vertigo potion." He muttered. "I'd take "I take it now before we walk out, give it a few minutes to work."

Victoria nodded before swallowing the potion down; it tasted like cough syrup.

Victoria was glad she was the last in line as the team walked out onto the pitch it gave her more time to think.

"Mount your brooms!" Madam Hooch ordered. She looked around at all the players her eyes coming to rest-hawk like-on Victoria, but she only nodded.

Then she blew her whistle, threw the Quaffle into the air, and the game began!

For most of the game, Victoria stayed out of the way. She had seen the Snitch be released, but it had promptly disappeared as the game had begun. Her only obstacle were the Bludgers and she made sure she stayed clear of them because she was a sitting duck if one ever hit her. As she cast about for the Snitch, her eyes drifted to the crowd. In the Ravenclaw part of the stands she saw Olive who was sporting a hat to with the house colors, watching the sky intently.

In the middle of the Ravenclaw the throng was Marvin, who was clearly taking pictures; Victoria hoped he got some good ones.

It seemed like an eternity before she saw the Snitch, a glint of gold against the blue sky and she dove hoping the anti-vertigo potion was working. She was halfway down before the Snitch disappeared again, frustrated, she pulled out of the dive realizing the Ravenclaw seeker, a small boy with black hair was somewhere behind her looking just as frustrated.

Victoria barely avoided a Bludger as she shot back up into the sky to return to her post to look for the Snitch again.

The second time the Snitch appeared it was the Ravenclaw seeker who spotted it. Victoria tore after him much to the delight of the Gryffindors. She put on an extra burst of speed and was a good couple of lengths away from the other seeker in a few seconds; everything in her straining to the max. She was tailing him following as he went into a dive and in a moment she was ahead of him… they were neck and neck… her fingers grasping for the tiny gold ball…

Much to the Gryffindors disappointment they lost the match, but only by a few points. It was one of the closest games in Hogwarts history, but Kingsley believed that they would win the next match, if they could pick things back up they might actually have a shot at the cup. This all made Victoria feel slightly better.

The following Tuesday Victoria received an owl which dropped a small parcel on her lap. Not immediately recognizing the owl or the particular package Victoria was confused, as soon as she opened it she immediately knew what it was. Marvin had sent her the pictures from the match on Saturday.

Victoria flipped through them with a grin on her face. Her particular favorite was one of her racing the Ravenclaw seeker. She duplicated several of these to send copies to Jeremiah later, she didn't have time now. Glancing at her watch it was teetering dangerously close to "time to go" her first class started in a few minutes and she didn't want to get in trouble with McGonagall again.


	10. A Visit From Mr Potter

**'Chapter 9-A Visit from Mr. Potter**

Victoria smiled when she saw Einstein, Jeremiah's owl, making his way through the throng of wings and feathers through a high window in the Great Hall. Following her gaze, Laura only smirked. It seemed her favorite pastime now was to tease Victoria.

"That's your friend's owl, isn't it?" She asked, as if she already knew the answer. Victoria didn't reply.

She waited until Einstein had landed at the table dropping the small oddly shaped package in her lap. As she opened the package Victoria spoke to the owl.

"Just a minute Einstein, I'm sending a reply back."

"What is it?" Laura asked curiously, peering over her shoulder.

"Clippings from my old school newspaper, The Ink Spot, they were covering the Quidditch match last week."

Hastily, Victoria wrote a reply back to Jeremiah.

 _Jeremiah-_

 _Looking at the clippings now probably send something with Alastair if I have more to say on the subject._

 _Victoria_

After Einstein had helped himself to a crust of bread Victoria handed him the reply and he flew off again. After the owl disappeared, Victoria and Laura bent their heads to read the clippings.

The first one read:

 **Dorm 16 Flattens Dorm 14 in Nail-Biting Match: 450 to 269**

"Dorms?" Laura looked confused.

"That would be our sixth and fourth year teams." Victoria explained. "Anyone 13 and older can join a Quidditch team we have 6 of them."

"6? Why so many?" Laura asked.

"One for each dormitory… The upper dormitories at least; ages 13 through 18."

"So third through seventh year?"

"Essentially." She replied.

Victoria chuckled at the front page of the article before setting it aside, which boasted a black-and-white photo of the fourth year Beater Harper Harris taking a Bludger to the face. She was sure it hadn't ended well.

Victoria picked up the next clipping.

 **Dormitory 16 in Line to Secure Cup for Second Consecutive Year**

"That will make Dickens happy, ever since the regional team beat Dorm 18 last year."

Victoria continued to shuffle through the papers, looking at pictures and shaking her head at headlines. Then she finished her breakfast before shoving everything into her bag. Glancing at her watch, she had just enough time to run back to Gryffindor tower and dump the stuff before heading to class.

That Tuesday morning was uneventful, but she was grateful Flitwick hadn't given them homework, but on the whole she was glad they only had a month left in the term before the holidays, which meant it wouldn't be much longer before she saw Jeremiah again.

Victoria had gotten her second wind by the time she made her way to Defense Against the Dark Arts. By now, the students had gone into a routine and there were only a few murmurs before everyone took their seats and reached for their books, quills, and parchment. After the class had quieted down Professor Quinn spoke.

"Everyone, I have a special announcement to make. Next week, on November 22, we will have a special guest. Auror Harry Potter will be coming to speak to all of my classes."

Professor Quinn had barely finished speaking when chatter broke out, particularly among the girls, some whom, Victoria noticed, were fluffing their hair excitedly.

"Did you hear that? Harry Potter, coming here to Hogwarts to talk to _us!"_

It took Professor Quinn several tries to get the class to quiet down, but finally he was able to be heard over all the talking.

"Yes, yes, I understand how excited you all are to meet and talk to Mr. Potter. We have discussed it and I will pick some of you to ask him a question towards the end of class. These will be picked as I see fit so don't try to convince me otherwise. If you wish to ask Mr. Potter a question please put it on a piece of parchment and the edge of my desk when you leave today."

The murmuring once again ensued but not as loudly as before. Everyone seemed to be distracted for the rest of class and Victoria noted there were a good number of misfired jinxes, so after a while Professor Quinn gave up and let the class go early, but not before giving them all extra homework.

By the time Victoria and Laura had Herbology on Thursday the news that Harry Potter was coming to Hogwarts to talk to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes had spread like wildfire. The best place for gossip (other than the common rooms) was the greenhouse because it was noisy enough one could have a conversation without being overheard.

"Rumor has it," a Hufflepuff fourth-year mumbled as he prodded a particular sluggish specimen with his wand, "Potter and his friend Weasley took a team up in northern Scotland, apparently they've called over some of the American Aurors for help. Apparently the Death Eaters are way more spread out than they originally thought."

"But didn't they get them all?" Another fourth-year Gryffindor girl asked, "I mean, it's been almost two years."

"Death Eaters are slimy boogers," the Hufflepuff continued with disgust, "the Aurors have their hands full dealing with the ones that escaped after the Battle of Hogwarts, some reckon that they started up another group, but they're all over the place without a wizard like Voldemort."

After that the conversation turned back to plants, the students that had been speaking looking at each other in grim silence. The gossip had only ceased when Professor Longbottom threatened to make them work with stink sap.

"Would you please focus on your lesson and quit gossiping about my friends," he admonished sternly, which was unusual for the normally kind Professor, "Thank you."

No one said much after that.

By the following week the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes world buzzing with excitement. Everyone wanting to ask Harry Potter a question had left a note on Professor Quinn's desk. Victoria hadn't decided what she wanted to ask him, the finally she came up with a question but wouldn't tell Laura what she had written.

Whispers swirled around Victoria when she entered the classroom that morning and it wasn't too hard to see why. Standing in the corner of the front of the classroom talking to Professor Quinn was Harry Potter himself. He hadn't changed much from the pictures Victoria had seen of him in textbooks the same unruly black hair, glasses and the infamous lightning bolt scar. Today he was wearing neat black and green robes with silver trim and it was only after Professor Quinn got the class to stop talking Harry began to speak.

"I would like to introduce Harry Potter, if you would _please_ give Mr. Potter your undivided attention."

Over the next forty minutes Harry spoke about his experiences during the war, finding the Horcruxes and fighting Voldemort. He mostly talked about the spells he used, he said technique and variation of what you knew was very important. When he was done talking he even gave a few demonstrations, even showing off his Patronus, a glistening stag which cantered around the room before vanishing in a wisp of vapor.

The last part of class was spent answering the questions the students had submitted. Professor Quinn had vetoed any question about Harry's personal life and had tossed a number of pieces of parchment with frilly writing in the wastebasket.

The last question that was asked caught Victoria off guard.

"Victoria Smith asks:" Professor Quinn read, "I know you can't give any information on your particular mission, but do you know an American Auror by the name of Jason Knott?"

Harry nodded and a smile broke out on his face making his green eyes twinkle.

"I do, as a matter of fact, he's on one of my surveillance teams, but doesn't report to me. Nice bloke, mentioned he had a brother about your age said he brought him over a few weeks back."

Victoria nodded, grinning.

"Yeah, that's my best friend, Jeremiah."

Harry looked suddenly serious.

"They're a good thing friends, I know I wouldn't have survived the war without mine, Ron and Hermione are probably the best thing that ever happened to me when I was here and since." Here he frowned, "What's your name?"

"Victoria." Victoria replied automatically.

Harry moved from his position behind the podium and walked to stand in front of her. His eyes surveyed her broom and the rest of her, clearly he hadn't seen anything like it before.

"A Firebolt, brilliant. I used to have one, don't anymore downgraded since I don't play much Quidditch anymore. You play Quidditch?" He asked curiously.

Victoria nodded.

"What position?" He asked.

"Seeker." Victoria whispered.

Harry's eyes brightened and he grinned. Victoria was struck about how green they really were, she could understand why so many girls had a crush on him.

"Well good for you." He gave her another appraising look, "from what I can see, you definitely deserve to be in Gryffindor." He smiled, a genuine smile which made Victoria want to smile back.

Victoria went out of class her head still buzzing. She wasn't listening to Laura anymore who was still flabbergasted Harry Potter had even spoken to someone she knew.

"He actually talked to you!" She practically squealed, which was quite unlike her.

Victoria, however, wasn't listening, she was composing a letter to Jeremiah in her head as she went to her next class. She had so much to tell him wondering how he had forgotten to mention his brother was working with Harry Potter.


	11. Victoria's Worst Fear

**Most of this chapter is based off my own experiences with anxiety. I will address what caused her fear in the next chapter when Laura confronts her about what happened. This chapter is also one of the longer chapters in this story because of the number of scenes and the amount of dialogue and ended up being about as twice as long as one of my average chapters.**

 **Chapter 10-Victoria's Worst Fear**

The rest of the week following Harry Potter's appearance in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes pass relatively quickly for Victoria. She had even asked McGonagall if she and Olive could have some time off to visit their family for Thanksgiving, but the headmistress turned her down, saying she couldn't make "that much of an exception" for two students. That was the beginning of one of Victoria's worst days at Hogwarts.

Before she had even been to the Headmistress office she was awoken that morning to find her alarm shrieking shrilly. Glancing at it she realized she had overslept. It was only by about ten minutes, but those ten minutes made all the difference, they made the difference between being able to get breakfast before class and not.

Grabbing her wand off her bedside table she dressed as quickly as she could, realizing she only had fifteen minutes to get to her first class. She tossed the appropriate books and supplies into her bag before sitting on the edge of her bed, sliding onto her broom and zooming out of the dormitory; as she went down the staircase she cast an Impervious charm on her broomstick handle because she had visions of the entire thing snapping in her haste to get down to the Great Hall.

She was expecting the look Laura gave her when she arrived at the Gryffindor table.

"What happened?" Her friend mouthed.

"Overslept." Victoria mouthed back as she grabbed some toast and pumpkin juice, she was going to be starving by lunch. If she had any more time she would have run back to the dorm and brushed her teeth, but at the moment that wasn't a luxury she could afford, she didn't even have time to read the letter Jeremiah had sent that morning.

Her morning would've been okay if it hadn't been for the disaster in Charms. Today's lesson was trying to turn a hedgehog into a powder puff and while Victoria was normally quite good at charms and could do animal Transfiguration decently, today she had neglected to take the legs off of the hedgehog first so now she had a powder puff which was running around her desk squealing. That was definitely something she wanted to tell Jeremiah later.

Victoria was thankful she didn't have Quidditch practice that day because there's no way is she would have caught the Snitch in her state of mind. As she and Laura were hurrying to Defense Against the Dark Arts Victoria figured there was no way her day could get any worse.

Unfortunately, she was wrong.

The classroom looked different than it had the previous times she had been there. Professor Quinn had pushed all the desks to the side of the room leaving a large empty space. The only desk in the room was the teacher's desk which had a large case on top of it.

"Please stand in a circle while I explain the lesson." Professor Quinn the students did as they were instructed, for once everyone was listening.

"Today, we will be learning how to repel boggarts. Can anyone tell me the significance of a boggart and what they do to the witch or wizard they encounter?"

Laura raised her hand.

"They take the form of the things we fear most."

Professor Quinn smiled at her, his blue eyes twinkling, and nodded.

"Exactly. Now, I will divide you into groups and you will form a line and take turns facing the boggart."

So they all divided into groups, Victoria was in a line with Laura and four other students. She decided to take the position last in line. She knew what form her boggart took, she had known this ever since she was about 8 or 9 years old, the fear was hard to explain to anyone and she hoped Professor Quinn understood.

She watched the girls in their group. One girl was afraid of birds, another of spiders, another was afraid of death and her boggart took the form of a dead body.

Laura's boggart took the form of a burning house and Victoria assumed this was a fear that had come about during the war possibly from a Death Eater attack or something of that nature.

Finally it was Victoria's turn, and swallowing she moved to the line. For a brief moment Laura's boggart hovered in front of her; the burning house with the licking flames and scorching heat but then it changed, shifted into something totally different.

Victoria found the face of Jeremiah staring back at her he only stared at her, not speaking, as if he didn't know her at all. The boggart began to move, walking as far away from her as possible as close as the door of the classroom before turning around and walking back. Victoria watched it, forgetting for a moment it wasn't really her friend.

Then everything was closing in around her, she couldn't breathe, couldn't feel her wand in her fingers, couldn't form the incantation that repel the boggart. Blood rushed in her ears and she couldn't hear anything anymore, could barely see anything anymore. Then she saw Professor Quinn moved as if in slow motion in the boggart took the form of a small boy with sad looking eyes.

That was the last thing Victoria remembered… Everything after that was fuzzy she felt someone pick her up (what happened to her broomstick?) and everything slowly turning from white to gray and finally to black.

Her next conscious thought was of the voices although it took her a moment to place them.

"Had to give her two doses of a calming draft…" That was the school nurse.

"What happened?" She now heard Professor Quinn, he sounded concerned, "I've never had a student react to a boggart that way."

"She had a panic attack, although I'm not quite sure about what." Madame Pompfrey replied.

Finally Victoria opened her eyes, she was not surprised to find the two adults looking at her. She was in the Hospital Wing, feeling vaguely light and floaty.

"Are you all right?" Professor Quinn asked anxiously. His blue eyes were unusually wide and his hair looked like he had been running his hands through it.

"Fine…" Victoria muttered rubbing her temple.

"Ms. Smith can you tell us what happened?" Madame Pomfrey asked, she also looked concerned.

"Jeremiah… My best friend… My boggart… So afraid of losing him; you have no idea." Victoria's explanation came out in a series of phrases. Explaining why she had this fear would require a very long explanation going back to when she had first started school. That wasn't a story she wanted to share with just anybody.

"So you're afraid of losing someone you love?" Professor Quinn asked.

Victoria nodded.

At the moment that was all the adults seem to have required of her and Professor Quinn left soon after; after he returned her broomstick.

Victoria spent most of the afternoon in the Hospital Wing, her only visitor was Laura who came in over lunch demanding to know what had happened. Victoria gave her a similar explanation she'd given the adults, it was all she felt up to at the moment.

"Look," she said carefully, "it's pretty personal, I'll tell you later okay."

Laura seemed to accept this and after sharing a lunch of pumpkin juice, biscuits and ham and cheese sandwiches (which was brought up by two house elves from the school kitchen) Laura left and Victoria was left alone again, which, at the moment she preferred.

In the quietness of the almost empty room Victoria turned her attention to the letter she had gotten from Jeremiah that morning, which was still in her school bag.

 _Victoria-_

 _Got your pictures from your Quidditch match, looks like it was pretty exciting. Hope you got my package with the updates from the matches here at AWI (isn't that a mess about Harper Harris? He is still in the hospital btw)_

 _I didn't mention Jason working with Harry Potter because I honestly forgot about it, I didn't even see him when I was over there before because Jason left before I did both days leaving very early and coming back to the inn very late. That's cool you got to meet him, he seems like a decent guy but I guess you would have to be if you defeated the most evil dark wizard ever and be so chill about it._

 _I'm celebrating Thanksgiving with my family right now, we don't go back to school until later next week. My holiday break is December 18 through January 2 and we will most likely be in London for Christmas. I hope to see you soon._

 _Jeremiah_

Victoria wrote back a reply, although she wouldn't be able to mail it until she could get Alastair to take it for her.

She wrote:

 _Jeremiah-_

 _You won't believe what happened to me I was in Defense Against the Dark Arts this morning, we were working with boggarts when it happened. I had a panic attack! Scared everybody, in the Hospital Wing now, probably won't be out until later this afternoon._

 _Call me!_

 _Victoria_

Madame Pompfrey let Victoria go shortly before her last class that day, Potions. She was grateful when Laura came to meet her at the end of the corridor before they made their way down to the dungeons.

Victoria thought her bad luck was over for the day, but she was wrong. She was barely halfway through class when it happened. It seemed everything she was doing with the potion, which was supposed to be a cure for the hiccups, was going terribly wrong. Instead of being the yellowish green it was supposed to be it was the color and texture of sludge and to add insult to injury, the mixture caught fire before blowing up in Victoria's face causing singed hair and eyebrows.

By the end of the lesson, Victoria had enough of her unfortunate incidents and took off from the dungeon a little faster than she meant to, nearly running over a couple of second years.

After class she returned to the common room, not caring if Laura was looking for her not. As soon as she found quill and parchment she scribbled out another short note to Jeremiah.

 _Jeremiah,_

 _call me ASAP! Potions disaster; as if my day hasn't been bad enough!_

 _Victoria_

She whistled for Alastair, who was just coming back from a hunt; he had just enough time to drop the remains of a dead mouse on her windowsill before flying off again with the two letters Victoria had composed.

It was after dinner before Victoria heard back from Jeremiah, Alastair was waiting for her when she returned to her dorm.

Jeremiah's reply was short.

 _Victoria,_

 _What happened? Mirrors; tonight at 11 PM (your time)_

 _Jeremiah_

Victoria waited until the common room was empty before she contacted Jeremiah. As it was almost midnight the common room was dark and deserted and even Laura and the most studious Gryffindors had long since gone to bed.

For once Victoria was not seated on her broom, but rather the broom was resting against a nearby table and Victoria, with a few pillows part behind her, was sitting in one of the armchairs by the fire.

Finally she reached for the mirror which was sitting on a nearby table and whispered:

"Jeremiah."

After a few seconds the mirror began to glow and Jeremiah's face appeared in the glass

"What was with the emergency owl?" Jeremiah asked as soon as his face was visible, "Alastair almost got caught in the middle of a game of Exploding Snap… May have singed his tail feathers a little bit."

Victoria chuckled, "Really?" She could just about picture the scene.

"I have quite possibly had the worst day of my life." Victoria stated.

Jeremiah frowned.

"How so?"

Victoria gave a wry smile.

"Where do I start? I was almost late for class, I screwed up my Transfiguration so I had a powder puff running around on my desk… I'm lucky if McGonagall doesn't give me a "Dreadful" on today's lesson."

Jeremiah continued to frown.

"That bad huh?"

"That's not all, actually, that's minor compared to what happened later."

Jeremiah continued to listen.

"During Defense Against the Dark Arts we were working with boggarts, you know how I am with those things, it's the one piece of Dark Arts defense I have trouble with."

"Oh, yeah." Jeremiah replied, his blue green eyes looking concerned. "Your boggart is me, isn't it?" Jeremiah continued to look concerned, "you never did tell me why…?"

Victoria blushed.

"I'm sure you can figure it out." Victoria replied stiffly. "… Anyway, I ended up in the Hospital Wing."

Jeremiah looked momentarily alarmed.

"Why? Oh yeah, your letter said you had a panic attack."

"It was so bad I needed to doses of a calming draft."

"Oh," Jeremiah said again, "I'm sorry."

"It's better now, and much better than it was this morning, I had lunch in the Hospital Wing and I thought my afternoon would be better… It wasn't."

"What happened?" Jeremiah asked.

"Long story short, my cauldron blew up in my face, Professor Slughorn said I was lucky it wasn't any worse, just a few burns, and I lost some hair and eyebrows."

Jeremiah chuckled.

"Yeah, I noticed. Is this all because you're missing me?" Jeremiah asked.

Victoria shrugged, still looking embarrassed.

"I don't know, maybe. I was so anxious today… Everything just spun out of control."

"Maybe that Calming Draft is a good idea," Jeremiah murmured, "don't worry, we'll see each other in less than a month, my parents are booking the port key in a couple of weeks, I'll send you an owl with the arrival date."

"Promise?" Victoria murmured.

Jeremiah smiled.

"Promise."

They talked for another few minutes before ending the call.

"Just hang in there," Jeremiah said bracingly, "the holidays are only a few weeks away. Look, I know it's pretty late over there, maybe you should go to bed. What time is your first class?"

Victoria yawned.

"No class tomorrow," she reminded him, "it's Saturday, remember?"

"Oh yeah." Jeremiah replied. " I'm on vacation so I've kind of lost track of the days."

"Guess I better go before you fall asleep on me. Really, get to bed." Jeremiah advised.

"Right…" Victoria mumbled. "Night… Jeremiah."

"Night." Jeremiah replied. Victoria saw one last sparkle in his eyes before the mirror went dark. Then she slowly got onto her broom (with some difficulty because she was tired) and made her way up the staircase to the girls' dormitory.


	12. A Not Quite Unhappy Birthday

**8-3-15: Making a few changes to this chapter, realize this morning that a few of the details were a bit off chronologically; changes should be up on the facing site shortly.**

 **Chapter 11-The Not Quite Unhappy Birthday**

In the month that followed, Victoria had Quidditch to distract her from thinking too much about Jeremiah; even Laura seemed to tease her less because she was focused on her schoolwork and related matters.

In the two consecutive matches since the beginning of the term, Gryffindor had managed to pull off a couple of wins, the first because the team they had been playing wasn't as organized as Kingsley had anticipated, and the second because of sheer luck and Victoria had just managed to snatch the Snitch out from under the Slytherin Seeker's nose. (She was telling Jeremiah about that one.) Things were looking good for putting Gryffindor (once again) in the running for the Quidditch Cup.

The weather that had followed the latest Quidditch practice seem to be holding. It was barely December and the weather seemed to be telling of the weather to come, even the enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall was a moody slate gray. Victoria had about had it with Kingsley's practices considering their next match wasn't until after the holidays, she was tired of running laps on her broom in the cold and damp weather and grumbled her fingers were so cold it was a wonder she could catch the Snitch at all.

The moody grayness continued into the second week of December and it was to this weather Victoria opened her eyes. Glancing over at her bulletin board next to her four poster she realized it was December 12, her birthday. She was 15 years old today.

The day only served as a reminder how much she missed Jeremiah, normally she would have gone straight into his dorm and shook him awake and they would have spent the morning until breakfast talking and exchanging presents since his birthday was a few days prior to her own. Today, however, there was no Jeremiah to greet her it was only Laura and the rest of the fourth-year girls.

The second thing Victoria glanced at it was her clock which currently read "a bit early dear" which told her she was a good hour and a half ahead of schedule, she didn't even have to be down for breakfast until 7:30 AM or 8 o'clock.

Most of the girls in the dorm were still asleep, the only vacant bed was Laura's and this was what prompted Victoria to get out of bed, get dressed and head down to the common room.

Victoria found Laura at a table finishing what looked like a rather lengthy essay.

"Homework?" She asked.

Laura nodded without speaking as she continued to scribble down the last few lines before looking up.

"Yeah." The other girl replied, "This essay for Binns is murder." Laura looked up at her quizzically, "You have yours done don't you?"

Victoria nodded.

"I've had it done since Thursday."

Victoria paused before continuing.

"Hey, Laura, can I talk to you about something?"

Laura set down her quill.

"Sure, what's up?"

"Laura… About the boggart thing…"

"You're not still on about that are you?" Laura frowned.

"Well, I just want you to understand why it matters so much, why I reacted the way I did."

The Firebolt hovered by the table as Victoria continued.

"When Jeremiah and I were 8 or 9 he was bullied until our third or fourth year of school and it wasn't until we were 12 or 13 everything finally stopped. It's just every time I think of my worst fear I think of something happening to him, even though I don't have to. I know he doesn't "need" me necessarily, but sometimes I still see that little boy who was made fun of by the older students for loving Potions."

Laura shrugged.

"Nothing wrong with Potions."

Laura's brow furrowed.

"Is that all? All your fear is because of that, but it happened years ago."

"No," Victoria continued, "it's not just that Jeremiah and I are and have always been very close and quite honestly I don't know what I would do without him."

"Now you're starting to sound like the sixth year girls who fussed over their boyfriends." Her tone was somewhat disapproving and made Victoria feel slightly belittled.

"I'm serious, I mean it, even though we're an ocean apart… He's all I have."

Victoria was still turning over her conversation with Laura in her mind as she made her way down to the Great Hall. She had just loaded up her plate and was using a cutting spell to cut up her breakfast when the mail arrived.

A flurry of owls descended on her place at the table and she barely had enough time to keep a particularly tipsy tawny from falling into the syrup.

"Okay, okay, one at a time, one at a time!" She scolded the owls who seemed to be trying to form a disjointed line so she would take their letter or package first. A couple of the owls she recognized, her family owl which she was sure was coming from somewhere in London, her father's owl, which he had purchased after his latest promotion, and Einstein who was carrying a letter Victoria was sure was from Jeremiah.

She started with the owls she recognized first. The first owl was from her mother. After removing the letter and package from the owl she read the note in her mother's loopy untidy handwriting.

 _Tor-_

 _Happy birthday love, have a wonderful day and many blessings for you. I sent some of those cookies I know you like._

 _Mom_

Sure enough the box attached to the owl's leg wasfilled withhomemade cookies.

Then Victoria turned her attention to the owl and package from her dad. The owl, didn't wait around for a reply but took off as soon as the package and letter were removed.

"Well someone has a busy day." Victoria muttered before turning her attention back to the items she was holding.

There was a letter along with a significantly heavy package.

Her father's letter was a short as her mother's.

 _Dearest Victoria,_

 _Happy birthday! You're 15 already; seems like only yesterday we brought you home from the hospital… If only the medi-wizards could see you now. I know how interested you are in the Dark Arts history and defense I picked up a book I thought you may like._

 _Love Dad_

Victoria turned her attention to the book in the package. The heavily embossed cover read:

 _The Second Wizarding War: The Rise and Fall of the Dark Lord_

Laura frowned at the book.

"Why would you want to read that? Didn't you live through it?"

"You know how old we were when the war broke out, my sister was barely 6 years old and I had just started school when everything happened. Voldemort didn't hit North America, he mostly stayed in Europe so we didn't get the news but secondhand anyway, and by the time Harry Potter got back to Hogwarts in May of '98 the American papers only printed a few articles on it. I never got all the details."

Victoria shrugged turning her attention back to her letters and packages.

Finally she reached for Jeremiah's package, which was being carried by an owl Victoria didn't recognize. Judging by the tag on its ankle she realized it must be a mail owl from some sort of wizard magazine; it was carrying a large canister.

 _Victoria,_

 _Happy Birthday!_

 _If you're asking how my birthday went it went well. I spent time with friends and did some stuff with my brothers (Jason is back from Scotland at the moment) I think he had to finish up some work at the Ministry. Christian is also back from Europe; mom keeps fussing about his injuries; busted up his shoulder bad in the last match (well what does she think will happen since he wrestles trolls for a living)_

 _Got you a little something I thought you might enjoy. I know how much you like your posters._

 _Jeremiah_

 _PS Portkey to London and booked for December 20 2 PM (London time); return Portkey booked for January 1 at 5 PM. Dad said something about us staying with your family._

Victoria was grinning from ear to ear, this was the best news she could have received, particularly on her birthday. If her calculations were correct she had less than a week before break started. As she finished reading the letter Laura was peering over her shoulder.

"Does his brother really wrestle trolls? My cousin mentioned there were guys that did that, but I thought he was pulling my leg."

Victoria nodded, grinning.

"Yep! Christian practically lives in Europe as it is, but he only comes home on special occasions, and then of course Jason travels a lot being an Auror… I don't know what Jeremiah is going to end up doing once he gets out of school… we never really talked about it."

"We have to start looking at careers next year," Laura said looking worried so we know what to take for our last two years. Then there are the OWLS and NEWTS."

"Students start looking at careers at the Institute when they're between the ages of 16 and 17, some have a job set before they even graduate."

"You'll be here when we take our OWLS," Laura said, "have you thought about what you want to do?"

Victoria shrugged.

"I want to do something with the Dark Arts; I was thinking of being a Curse Breaker. I don't know, I'm still thinking about it."

Finally Victoria turned her attention to the owls supporting Jeremiah's parcel. It was a long tube of sorts and she had no idea what was inside.

When she uncorked the canister she found two rolled up posters inside. One was of Harry Potter, who gave her a small modest smile when she unrolled the picture. The other was of the DC Dragons seeker, Vincent Clip, who gave her a sexy smirk as he leaned against his broomstick, even that simple gesture seemed to be slightly suggestive. Victoria rolled her eyes. At least Jeremiah had managed to find two posters she didn't already own, they would probably stay at the bottom of her trunk until she got home in a few days she didn't have room for them here.

With her watch teetering on "get to class, you idiot" Victoria shrunk all of her presents and shoved her letters in the outer pocket of her bag. She would have to organize all her gifts later.

Victoria was not surprised no one was hardly listening in class that morning, there were jinxes flying everywhere because people were bored and McGonagall had to magnify her voice before anyone listened. This was the way with most of the classes; the afternoon was even worse and no one even bothered to pay much attention in History of Magic because not many people cared anyway. Vacation was just around the corner, and the students had other things on their minds besides their lessons.

It was the slowest week of her life but finally the day before break had arrived and Victoria spent the afternoon after classes got out packing for the train that would depart the following morning. She was still sweeping everything into her trunk with her wand when Laura appeared in the dorms.

"Packing already? You must really be anxious to get out of here."

Victoria gave a noncommittal shrug.

"You're not excited to see your family you're excited to see _Jeremiah."_

"Oh shut up." Victoria muttered.

"Admit it, if he went to school here you guys would so be dating. Pansy Crystal says you never shut up about him."

Victoria threw a pillow at her. Maybe it was a good thing that she was going to be away from Hogwarts for two weeks.


	13. Christmas at Number 17

**A lot of the commentary on the Smith's Christmas is how my family conducts Christmas, my mother puts out the presents a few days before (we usually have so many they don't fit under the tree) and we have a big breakfast on Christmas Day. How I describe the opening of the presents is pretty much how my family does it (it's pretty chaotic LOL).**

 **Chapter 12-Christmas at Number 17**

The ride back to London was as uneventful as the previous trip had been, the only difference was Victoria had Laura, and as it had turned out, Professor Quinn, who was once again riding the train. The young professor, before Victoria had known he would be her teacher, was a great help since Victoria had no one to help her on the train since leaving Hogsmeade earlier that morning.

Her last view of Hogwarts had been of Hagrid (after putting her on the train in the capable hands of Professor Quinn) waving goodbye as the train had pulled out of the station.

"Do you think Jeremiah will be there to meet you?" Laura asked. She was sitting across the aisle in the compartment she, Victoria and Professor Quinn were sharing, and while Laura still found it odd Victoria was friends with their teacher, she found he was in enjoyable companion.

Victoria shrugged.

"It's hard to say," she replied as she looked at her watch which had been holding steady at "traveling-but on time" since their departure half an hour before. "We're supposed to get in sometime between 1 and 2 PM and Jeremiah's portkey doesn't arrive on the hill above our house until around two… So unless the portkey is early or late, it's not likely."

The train pulled into Kings Cross almost exactly at 2 PM. Hoping she timed it about right she borrowed Professor Quinn's owl and sent a quick note to Jeremiah.

 _Jeremiah-_

 _Arriving at Kings Cross any moment… Hope that this owl finds you. Are you here yet?_

 _Victoria_

The ruffled looking tawny, who looked perturbed at being asked to take a message in transit took off out the window.

"He should find your friend, if he's here in England hopefully Rupert will be back in a few minutes."

Professor Quinn had just spoken when the train pulled up at Platform 9 and Three Quarters. Initially, Victoria didn't see her parents but after the train had come to a complete stop and the noise of students disembarking had diminished, Victoria spotted them. Victoria continued to scan the faces and next to her parents were Jeremiah's so Victoria knew he had to be on the platform.

As soon as she was back on her broomstick and had hastily greeted her parents she began looking for Jeremiah. As the crowd began to thin she spotted him; he wasn't that hard to miss for the tawny owl which was perched comfortably on his shoulder.

"Jeremiah, did you get my-?"

Jeremiah smirked.

"Yeah," he replied holding up the note, "nearly ran into me a few minutes after the Portkey landed. We took the Knight Bus practically from your house." Jeremiah turned to study the owl on his shoulder. "Who's owl is this anyway?"

"That would be mine." Victoria turned to see Professor Quinn approaching, "I let Victoria borrow him, seemed like the fastest way to get you a message, she seemed quite set on it."

By this time the parents had joined them, any further conversation between them was stalled, a noisy platform wasn't exactly the right place to catch-up.

"Victoria," her dad asked, "who are your friends?"

Victoria made the introductions.

"This is Professor Quinn, he teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, we actually met on my way here; I didn't even know he was a teacher." Victoria turned to Laura who was still standing awkwardly behind her. "This is Laura Scrimgour, she's in my year." As soon as Laura saw Jeremiah she looked over at Victoria and smirked, mouthed: "We'll talk later."

Handshakes and "nice to meet you" were exchanged before Laura looked over her shoulder.

"Hey, my parents are here, I got to go, have a nice holiday. Happy Christmas." Then Laura disappeared in a flurry of blonde hair and her red and gold scarf. She was gone by the time Victoria had a chance to look.

"I better go to," Professor Quinn apologized, "I'm actually meeting my brother and his wife at least for a portion of the holiday… I'll see you in January Victoria." Then like Laura, Professor Quinn was gone.

When everyone had arrived back at the Smith's, Number 17, everyone each took an armchair and collapsed. While the Knotts had been traveling most of the day (via Portkey or otherwise) Victoria's parents had been cleaning the house in preparation for the holidays and company, and when Victoria's mother had company she turned into a whirlwind; she could be a force of nature when she wanted to.

"Just let me relax!" Her mother demanded as soon as everyone had sat down.

"But I need to unpack," Victoria exclaimed, "you've no idea what a mess my trunk is. I'm going to have to repack before I go back before break."

Her mother waved her hand.

"Have Jeremiah help you." Her mother muttered as she threw a dishtowel over her eyes.

Without any further encouragement the two teenagers made their way up the stairs.

When Victoria and Jeremiah reached the top of the stairs (Victoria floating up on her broom) Victoria looked around for her sister. While everyone had collapsed in the living room, her younger sister had disappeared, probably into her room to finish her latest book.

"First room on the left." Victoria told Jeremiah as he hauled her trunk in that direction. Each word punctuated by a grunt.

"This would be much easier-if-I-was-legal!" Jeremiah spluttered as he hauled the large trunk into her bedroom. "Three more years and I'd be able to levitate the thing."

Victoria giggled softly, nodding in agreement.

They talked as Victoria unpacked, tossing dirty robes and clothes in one pile and broken and used school supplies in another. At the bottom of her trunk were all her birthday presents including her large book from her dad and Jeremiah's posters.

"I got poster tabs from a Muggle office supply store can you put those posters up?" Victoria asked.

"Sure." Jeremiah replied. Victoria watched as he climbed around on her bed sticking the posters where she instructed.

Jeremiah studied the poster of Vincent Clip.

"He always seemed a bit pompous for my liking, but you never know with these guys I think the fame goes to their head."

"Like you would know." Victoria laughed. As she tossed a wad of dirty robes in his direction.

The week before Christmas was a busy one. Victoria had to finish her Christmas shopping for about ten different people, and she and Jeremiah spent the next few days in Diagon Alley buying presents. They spent time when the other wasn't looking going to other stores to get gifts for each other. Victoria got potions books from Flourish and Blotts and Jeremiah disappearing into the back of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, she still didn't know what he had bought only that he returned with a small parcel and a mischievous smirk on his face that told her he wasn't telling her anything.

They came home via the Floo laden down with packages, it would still take them a few days to wrap everything. They came out of the fireplace talking and laughing while nearly falling over with the number of parcels they each were carrying. Their good mood must have been contagious because everyone was in good spirits, asking how their shopping trip had went. Jeremiah said it went well, but he didn't say more than that before disappearing into the back of the house where the rest of his family was sleeping; Victoria's father had expanded the back bedroom to accommodate 5 or 6 extra people.

Jeremiah and Victoria spent a portion of the rest of the week dodging each other as they wrapped their respective gifts and it wasn't until late one afternoon a few days later Victoria remembered about asking Jeremiah to help her with Potions.

She related her woeful tale of the disastrous hiccup solution which had gone terribly wrong and it was only then Jeremiah pulled out his own Potions textbook and they went over the potion and its ingredients, then cleared a space in the kitchen and set about re-creating the potion.

"Six turns counterclockwise, followed by six turns clockwise." Jeremiah instructed once the potion had reached its proper consistency and continued to simmer. "I think you also missed half of your beetle eyes and extract of newt."

"My table was a mess…" Victoria confessed, "and as good as a student as Laura is, she wouldn't be the first person I'd ask to help with potions."

"You just wish I was there to help you because you used to it." Jeremiah said with a sly smile.

"Well, yeah." Victoria confessed, blushing slightly.

"Good." Jeremiah said cheerfully, "Glad I'm missed."

After forty minutes the potion was a bright yellow and Victoria and Jeremiah studied the cauldron with satisfaction.

"Now we need something to test it on…" Victoria murmured.

"Why do you think I have this?" Jeremiah asked and he lifted a sixpack of soda out from under the counter. "Dad got some, I told him I needed it for an experiment."

After another twenty minutes Jeremiah had a spectacular case of the hiccups after which he and Victoria tested the solution, which, as Victoria hoped, worked perfectly.

"Now let's get this cleaned up before my parents come back," Victoria said as Jeremiah decanted the remaining potion into a few empty vials. "She's going to be pissed if we leave the kitchen a mess. Besides, I fancy not finding extra beetle eyes in dinner tonight."

December in London was a little colder than Victoria was used to, but she already gotten used to the stiff breeze that blew off the lake at Hogwarts, but it was still a surprise every time she stepped outside. The wind had died down by the time the families headed for the church in town for the late mass on Christmas Eve. They spent the next hour listening to the small, wispy looking pastor talk from the podium and singing Christmas carols; the rendition of "Silent Night" being sung by candlelight.

It was past midnight when the families returned to Number 17 the lights having long since gone on in the rows of houses. The Christmas tree twinkled in the front window as they walked up to the stoop; it was a nice thing to come home to. Afterwards, everyone sat around the fire and had tea and cookies before heading for bed. Victoria and Jeremiah sat on the floor eating cookies and drinking hot cider; they were on their fifth game of Exploding Snap, which was the only other noise in the room. When they both got tired of the game and the glasses of cider were empty they spent the last few minutes before bed listening to the Wizarding Wireless which was playing Christmas carols.

Finally they all turned in, Jeremiah and Victoria were the last to go to bed, their last word to each other was said outside Victoria's door after they had brushed their teeth.

"Night." Jeremiah murmured quietly giving her another squeeze.

"Night." Victoria replied, her face still buried in his shoulder, right now all she wanted to do was get off her broom and get in the bed.

"I'll see you in the morning." Jeremiah added, he gave her one last smile before continuing on down the hallway towards the large room he shared with his family.

It was late the next morning before anyone got up, but Victoria was up as soon as she heard her parents bustling in the kitchen making tea and other kind of breakfast goodies they usually reserved for the holidays.

Over cups of tea, the presents were opened with much laughter and excitement.

Soon Victoria and a large pile of gifts accumulating around her. From her mother she had a number of clothes, sweaters and no less than six new pairs of socks. From her father she had gotten tickets to a DC Dragons match later that summer.

"Can Jeremiah come too?" She asked.

Her father chuckled.

"I don't see why not."

From her sister she had gotten a book about the best Quidditch teams in the past 50 years, both national and international and the latest albums from The Barnaby Brothers and the Fizzing Whizbangs.

Soon the presents had dwindled down to a small pile. Jeremiah had just as many presents as she did including the potions books Victoria had gotten him. His brothers had also gotten him a box from Weasley Wizard Wheezes, but Victoria knew Jeremiah was too practical to use everything at once and most likely they would be put to good use by his friends who would use them to prank one another.

Like Victoria, Jeremiah had gotten several clothes, but he seemed more interested in the books Victoria had gotten him than anything else and was absently flipping through them as he waited for the next present to be opened.

One of the last present to be opened was a small box from Jeremiah. He handed it to Victoria.

"This is for you."

Upon seeing the logo on the box of a large "W" Victoria knew this was what he had been buying in Weasley Wizard Wheezes the day they had been shopping. She figured it was some sort of potion or defense knickknack since the shop now carried a number of items utilized by Aurors in any manner of dark wizard catchers.

Instead, inside the small box with a delicate silver necklace. On the chain was a pendant set with blue and red stones.

"It works kind of like our mirrors, without the images of course. When something happens with either of us that triggers a certain emotion the stones will glow. I have one in my watch." He held up his watch and Victoria saw a similar set of stones set around the rim.

"So will know when either of us is happy or upset." Victoria murmured.

"That way you don't have to worry about me." Jeremiah whispered quietly, his eyes soft. "The charm isn't the most accurate, but it gives you a general idea. Right now the stone is red which means there's a lot of happiness and excitement, it turns blue when either of us is sad, magenta for anger,purple for fear, and light pink when-"

"you're feeling particularly sappy." Christian finished.

Jeremiah blushed, his cheeks going a color Victoria didn't see very often.

"Well, for love or attraction." He mumbled.

Just as he spoke, the necklace in Victoria's hand went from red to a bright florescent pink. Victoria caught Jeremiah's eye, they were both blushing now. Jeremiah's watch had now gone a reddish pink, as if the emotion he was feeling couldn't quite be defined.

Victoria knew how that felt. Maybe she wouldn't wear this necklace as much as she thought she would… At least not where everyone could see it.


	14. The Quidditch Quibble

**A few notes:**

 **This chapter is kind of an "in between" chapter between Christmas and the rest of the spring term. I needed something interesting that happen between Christmas and what I knew would be the Valentines chapter so here you are. I wanted something sort of funny and lighthearted so that's where most of this chapter came from.**

 **Quibble-a slight objection or criticism.**

 **Chapter 13-The Quidditch Quibble**

New Year's came and went. Victoria's biggest highlight however was _almost_ kissing Jeremiah. It had happened New Year's Eve when most of the family had gone to bed, Jason and Christian were in the kitchen (no doubt getting more food) and Jeremiah and Victoria had decided they were going to walk down to the square and watch fireworks in the nearby Muggle neighborhood.

Putting on a hat, coat, and scarf with her favorite pair of boots Victoria and Jeremiah made their way down a few blocks, in the distance they could hear the clamor of the crowd even though the fireworks wouldn't go off until midnight. The only downside to their outing was Victoria nearly froze her butt to her broomstick. She had grumbled something to Jeremiah about using an unsticking charm on her jeans, but figured it wasn't worth getting expelled from Hogwarts or setting her pants on fire. Jeremiah had only laughed, which had warmed the atmosphere considerably and Victoria blushed, not sure if it was because of embarrassment or because of the cold.

The two teenagers made their way on the periphery of the crowd until they found a suitable place where they could see the fireworks going off. Finally the crowd began to murmur and the countdown began:

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Happy New Year!" The crowd chorused. Each person turn to their loved ones and hugs and kisses were exchanged under scarves, mufflers and hats. Victoria watched the scene with a smile. In those few seconds between seconds Victoria and Jeremiah had moved closer and by the time it was midnight they were as close as they could possibly be. Jeremiah had an arm around her and their heads were close together, but they hadn't spoken. There was a cacophony of noise, but Victoria barely noticed, fireworks, people chattering and the distinct "bong" of Big Ben in the distance. She could feel Jeremiah's breath against her cheek and the brush of his scarf against her face and it struck her once again how close they were. In the chaos of the crowd Victoria could see the glow of Jeremiah's watch, which was now glowing a soft pink. Against her skin, Victoria could feel her necklace knowing it probably had a similar color.

In the cold Victoria felt their skin brush again- cheeks, noses and nearly every inch of exposed skin. Jeremiah still wasn't speaking, but his breath was coming in short little gasps and she could tell he was nervous but why she couldn't say. Their noses brushed again as they were staring at each other, in Jeremiah's eyes she saw as many questions as she knew she had in her own, but after a few seconds Jeremiah turned his head and her nose and lips brushed his cheek instead. He didn't seem to notice.

After the fireworks Jeremiah and Victoria went back to the house. Victoria took her wand and unlocked the door, it was a general protection charm set by an adult so it's not like she was actually performing magic outside of school. Most of the lights , except for the glittering fairy lights on the Christmas tree, were out and they each made their way upstairs with only the light of a single lamp and went to bed without speaking.

The return to school for the most part was uneventful. Victoria's farewell to Jeremiah on New Year's Day was about what she had expected, not that she was prepared for it or liked it.

Her first day back at Hogwarts she caught up with Laura without elaborating about what she had done with Jeremiah specifically (not that she wanted to). For the most part she kept her vacation events to herself, holding onto the time she had spent with Jeremiah because she didn't know when she would see him again.

The new semester brought new classes-Ancient Runes and Astronomy. She was still debating with McGonagall how to squeeze in Care Of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies and to Victoria's amusement the headmistress seemed a bit taken aback.

"Ms. Smith, seems to me you have more than enough classes for you to handle. I think two additional classes on top of your already busy schedule is enough. I assure you, there will be more than enough time for you to fit everything in if and when you graduate from Hogwarts."

Victoria found McGonagall was right, however, particularly with Kingsley increasing their time on the Quidditch pitch in preparation for the upcoming match in a few weeks. The weather for January was bitterly cold which made flying, which Victoria normally found enjoyable, abysmal and she said as much to Kingsley which started one of the longest weeks of her school career.

"Smith!" Kingsley barked, "I'm the captain I call the shots with the schedule, if I say this team isn't ready for the match in two weeks I say we're not!"

"Well you won't get very far if your Seeker is freezing their butt off!" Victoria shot, rising on her broom so she was on eye level with Kingsley.

The rest of the team watch this with a great deal of interest as if they were watching a tennis match.

"Maybe you shouldn't have signed up if you thought we would be only flying in decent weather!" Kingsley snapped, "I can call in an alternate for you." Victoria found his tone rather degrading.

Victoria was still steaming by the end of practice, she hadn't spoken to Kingsley unless she was directly spoken to. She wasn't even sure what she was mad about, she was tired of his rigorous training schedule and thought they should at least have a few nights off to do homework, but most of the boys on the team laughed at this idea because most of them preferred Quidditch over school work.

"Why are you trying to pick a fight with him?" Laura asked one afternoon after class.

"Because," Victoria replied shortly, "I think he's wrong, I do agree we have to be ready for the match but he doesn't have to run us ragged in this weather and I can't fly as well as I normally can in these conditions, my muscles lock up."

She even wrote a terse letter to Jeremiah which only went to show her state of mind, but to his credit Jeremiah was understanding and if she had said anything out of turn he hadn't said anything about it.

After their second grueling practice in two days Victoria had just about had it.

"What do I have to do to get through to you!" She yelled after doing a series of catches for the Snitch and missing. "I can't play like this!"

"Well I can't control the weather!" Kingsley yelled as she came down from the air. "Just get your arse in line or I'll be looking for a new Seeker!"

Victoria had already landed, but she hadn't seemed to hear him.

"What do I have to do to get through to you!" She said again, still hovering in front of him, glaring. "Shut up, just shut up!" Then before she could think better of it she had wooshed past him and what happened next no one expected. Before Victoria could think better of it her lips were on his. The kiss was hard and passionate and over as quickly as it had begun, and Victoria headed for the castle Kingsley still yelling after her.

"You know I'm a prefect! That's 40 points from Gryffindor! 40 points! I will be speaking to McGonagall about this!" Victoria didn't know whether he meant about the kiss or her telling him to shut up.

Kingsley indeed did speak to McGonagall, which earned Victoria her first ever (and hopefully last) detention. She had detention for the rest of the week and had been suspended from the upcoming match. At this point thanks to their conflicting schedules, Victoria hardly ever saw Laura, the only time she did see her was at meals and they passed each other in the common room. To add to her troubles, the school gossip chain was working overtime. Her stunt with Kingsley made her the talk of the school, which was the last position she wanted to be in. The rumors ranged from she had assaulted Kingsley with her broomstick to that they were dating to that they had been dating and they had a falling out. None of these were further from the truth.

Between her detentions and late-night class in the Astronomy Tower Victoria didn't have much time, any of her extra time was spent doing school work or talking or writing to Jeremiah, which she still did frequently particularly after the kerfuffle with Kingsley. Such was the topic of conversation on a particular evening after Victoria had gotten back from her latest detention as the two friends conversed via the 2 way mirrors

"Why did you get so mad in the first place?" Jeremiah asked his brow furrowed.

"He's not cutting me any slack!" Victoria exclaimed, "He knows I can't fly as well as the other players in this weather, he knew that when I signed up!"

"Maybe he doesn't." Jeremiah countered mildly. "Sorry about you getting suspended though."

"McGonagall let me off easy," Victoria reflected, "I'm lucky I only got suspended for one match and a week's worth of detention. I could've gotten a month's worth of detention and been suspended for the rest of the term."

Suddenly Jeremiah grinned again.

"I can't believe you kissed him!" He chortled, "You must have really been pissed my watch was literally vibrating for an hour."

"I guess I'm not surprised you felt it." Victoria replied sheepishly, "I didn't know the charm was that powerful."

"The stones are like a Muggle mood ring," Jeremiah explained, "I think they'll probably be fine… Unless you murder someone."

Victoria laughed quietly and allowed herself another sheepish smile. Jeremiah always had a way of making her feel better even when she was too mad or too sad to ever think she would be happy again.

With her suspension from the match at the end of January Victoria had much more free time than she had originally anticipated and spent most of her time on Thursday nights finishing her homework while the rest of the team was out on the pitch. She hadn't quite decided whether she would watch the match or not, she figured it would just make her depressed.

Finally, after some cajoling from Laura, Victoria decided to go.

"Stop sulking," her friend said with a hint of disgust, "it's unattractive, especially for you. What does Jeremiah think of all this?"

"He's saying the same thing." Victoria replied grudgingly, "after he laughed at me for kissing Kingsley in the first place."

"Yeah, why did you do that? Although it was worth seeing the look on McGonagall's face, I doubt she's given someone a detention for kissing someone before."

Victoria gave a lopsided shrug as she maneuvered her broom out of the dormitory.

"Well, how else was I supposed to get him to shut up."

The game went about as well as Victoria had expected. Desiree Cottenwood was the reserve Seeker and as Victoria had observed during tryouts, she was a good flyer. Victoria, however, could have done without the included commentary, provided by Colin Platt, a fast talking skinny looking fifth year who looked like a zipper.

"Desiree Cottenwood filling in for Victoria Smith of Gryffindor. Smith was suspended for kissing the Captain and Beater Gregory Kingsley. Are they dating? Go ask Lucy Puckle of Hufflepuff."

This comment made Victoria snort. If they only knew the truth.

As it turned out, Gryffindor ended up winning the match, much to Victoria's relief she figured by then her teammates would be so happy they wouldn't hate her too much, but most of them had been too amused by her stunt she had pulled on Kingsley to be mad anyway.

As the school filed down from the stands and back to the castle, Victoria made her way back to the common room trying to decide whether or not she would stay for the party she knew would follow. She worked on her assignment for Astronomy for half an hour before she decided it wasn't going anywhere and went down to join the party in the common room.

The common room was packed and Victoria squeezed her way into the only available space grabbing a Pumpkin Pasty as she went before making herself comfortable. It was only after the initial ruckus had died down Kingsley found her.

"I guess it's time to put this entire mess behind us." He murmured.

Victoria nodded.

"Maybe you're right, I guess I got so wound up about being prepared going into this term. I didn't really think about what it was doing to everybody. Maybe I should make the practices a little shorter… At least until the weather warms up," He gave her a stern look, "but providing its below freezing I'm _not_ canceling practice."

Victoria nodded again.

"Fair." She finally murmured, "I can live with that." Finally she looked up at him and was surprised to see his no nonsense expression had softened slightly.

"I just want you and the rest of the team to do your best, like you do in Defense Against the Dark Arts," Kingsley chuckled, clapping a sturdy hand on her shoulder which nearly knocked her off her broom, "why you're practically Quinn's star pupil."


	15. Jeremiah's Valentine

**No I did not plan for the Valentine's Day chapter to be chapter 14 LOL!**

 **Chapter 14-Jeremiah's Valentine**

Following the last of her detentions and her suspension from Quidditch the rest of January was fairly uneventful and before Victoria knew it, it was the middle of February.

She had barely opened her eyes before she remembered what day it was. As soon as she saw the heart next to the "February 14" she groaned softly. It wasn't that she hated Valentine's Day, on the contrary, but it only reminded her of something she didn't have - a boyfriend. Now she was going to have to listen to the girls all day talk about their crushes and significant others, while settling for the friendly card and letter she usually got from Jeremiah.

Jeremiah-and here laid the crux of her problem.

Sitting up, she glanced around the dorm. Given it was shortly before breakfast most of the girls were up the majority of which caused a traffic jam of sorts in the dormitory bathroom. It looks like she would be requiring the Room of Requirement again.

She was halfway out of the dormitory with her clothes for the day in her bag (at the moment she was still wearing her pajamas and a bathrobe.

"Where you going?" Pansy asked she was still in her pajamas, combing out her thick dark hair. She wasn't exactly unpretty, but she was nice enough looking. Victoria figured most guys were turned off by the fact she played the Beater position in Quidditch.

"Seventh floor." Victoria answered, giving her a significant look.

"Oh, right." Pansy said hastily catching on, "I'll tell Laura to save you a seat then…" She glanced momentarily at the broom, "well, you know what I mean."

Her detour to the Room of Requirement gave Victoria the much-needed time she needed to think. After using the facilities and getting dressed she made her way down to the Great Hall where Pansy and Laura were waiting for her.

There seem to be copious amounts of mail that day probably valentines from boyfriends or something of that nature, but it was hard to tell what was the usual mail and what was special delivery. Amid the sea of gray and brown Victoria spotted Einstein carrying a bundle of letters. The owl landed gracefully nibbling at a crust of bread Victoria had left on her plate.

"Good morning Einstein, how is Jeremiah today? What do you have for me, huh?"

"You talk to him like he can understand you." Pansy said with a little laugh.

Victoria shrugged, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"I don't know…" She replied, "maybe he can."

She then turned her attention to the letters.

What she had thought were multiple letters turned out to be one lengthy letter. Upon glancing at the first line Victoria knew Jeremiah was upset about something.

 _Victoria,_

 _My classes are going about as I expected. Things are going well although I'm having a bit of trouble with Astronomy; the course this year is really hard. Second is the main reason I'm writing this… You won't believe what happened to me! You know that box Christian and Jason gave me for Christmas from Weasley Wizard Wheezes? Well Aaron and Matthew thought it was hilarious to slip some Puking_ _Pasties_ _into my breakfast this morning, I missed all of my morning classes and couldn't stop throwing up because they conveniently "forgot" the other half with the antidote._

Victoria paused in her reading, chuckling quietly to herself. Jeremiah rarely got that mad and if he was this upset with his best friends she could only imagine what the incident had actually been like. If she had still been at AWI they would have laughed about it later and Victoria would have cut class to keep him company in the infirmary.

 _Madame Robbins straightened me out, took her a while to figure out what spell or potion to use and I just barely made my afternoon classes. Though she has me on crackers until dinner._

 _How are you settling back in at Hogwarts? Are your classes going okay? You mentioned you were starting a couple of new classes how are they going so far?_

 _Yes I know it's Valentine's Day. Enclosed is one of the Valentines they were passing out this week and last (filled out accordingly) I also got something else coming… Hopefully it gets to you in time._

 _Have a good day,_

 _Jeremiah_

Setting the letter aside, Victoria reached for the card that had been folded in with the rest of the letter. It was a small pink card with red, white and pink hearts on it. On the front it said:

 **You're the best! Happy Valentine's Day!**

On the back it read in Jeremiah's neat, tight handwriting.

 _Victoria,_

 _Thanks for being such a great friend. I have enjoyed getting to know you! I have enjoyed our correspondence since you moved to London (I think Alastair and Einstein are getting a bit of a workout-ha!)_

 _Jeremiah_

It wasn't until after Victoria was done reading the note she realized Laura was reading over her shoulder.

" 'I have enjoyed getting to know you'? What kind of Valentine is that?"

"What what do you expect him to say?" Victoria shot back indignantly, "He's not my boyfriend Laura."

Laura huffed, swinging her blonde hair.

"Well he should be."

Most of Victoria's morning was uneventful until halfway through Professor Quinn's class. Professor Quinn was halfway through his lecture when there was a tap in the classroom window. Victoria looked up, there outside the window was a large gray owl, in its beak it held a red envelope.

Sighing, Professor Quinn reluctantly let the owl in which dropped to the envelope on Victoria's desk. At first she thought it was a Howler, but the insignia on the envelope, which read "for lovers and admirers and someone special, courtesy of express owl post" proved her wrong.

"Ms. Smith, is there any reason this owl couldn't have delivered it's letter this morning?"

"I don't know, sir," she added quickly, "I didn't know it was coming."

Before either of them could speak however the flap of the envelope opened of its own accord and a voice, which sounded like Jeremiah's, issued from it.

"I'm sorry if this catches you at a bad time, but these messages go straight to the person they are intended for wherever they are…" There was a pause before Jeremiah's voice continued, "well I guess what I'd like to say is thanks for being such a good friend. I know this separation with you leaving the States and all has been hard on you, me too, if I'm honest. No one likes leaving their best friend. I'm hoping we can get together again sometime, I'm hoping to be able to come to a Quidditch match in the spring; Jason is looking at his work schedule, he's only going to be in Scotland until they figure out what the Death Eaters are up to. Hopefully that won't be for much longer."

Then the envelope fluttered to her desk again and fell silent. Victoria could already hear the murmurs, she could feel Professor Quinn's eyes on her but he hadn't spoken.

Just then Laura spoke up.

"And you say he's not your boyfriend; what kind of person send someone a message like that."

"Just shut up!" Victoria snapped, "You have no idea what we've been through, particularly in the last few months. Do you have any idea what it's like to have to leave your best friend you've known since you were a kid behind and have your dad up and randomly transferred to another country!"

Professor Quinn's smooth voice cut across her.

"That's enough Ms. Smith, Ms. Scrimgeour… Now, if we could please continue with the lesson." And Professor Quinn returned to his lecture.

Laura and Victoria still weren't speaking by the time Victoria went down to Quidditch practice a few days later. She had been spending most of her time with Pansy, who would quickly become a friend since the kissing Kingsley incident.

"But you like him right?" Pansy asked when she realized Laura and Victoria still weren't speaking.

Victoria nodded slowly, she could admit that much.

"So what's the problem?"

"An ocean," Victoria replied, "among other things."

The practice went well enough until Victoria was going into a particularly difficult move. She had felt her broom pull slightly to the left (more than usual) and she was still trying to control the broom when Kingsley called her down.

"Smith, what's wrong with your broom?"

Victoria sat on her broom feeling confused, for a brief moment she wished she could walk like other students and she didn't have to ride a broom everywhere.

"I don't know, it's pulling left."

Sighing, Kingsley took out his wand and waved it, elevating Victoria slightly. Setting her down on the grass nearby, he studied her broom.

"It's definitely leaning and somewhat unbalanced… Unusual for a Firebolt; perhaps it's the heavy usage."

Finally Kingsley set her back on her broom and gave her his diagnosis.

"I would suggest having a broom maintenance wizard look at this broom, and it definitely needs a tune up. Please have this resolved by the next match."

Victoria did some brief calculations in her head, the next match was the third Saturday in March, that gave her almost three weeks. As she headed back to the castle she wondered how she would manage until then.

 **A lot of what happened with Victoria in this chapter has happened to me. I do have a friend that people were constantly teasing us about dating and it did lead to a few squabbles between a few friends and acquaintances. And yes, he did send me Valentine's practically every year until we were out of high school.**


	16. The Broomstick Inspector

**Chapter 15-The Broomstick Inspector**

Victoria's first order of business following the "broomstick debacle" was to talk to McGonagall, which she did promptly the next morning before breakfast.

"Ms. Smith, what is it that you needed to speak to me so badly about?" The headmistress demanded.

"It's my broom, I need a maintenance wizard out here as soon as possible or I will not be able to play in the upcoming Quidditch match, or get around as easily."

McGonagall seemed to consider this.

"Very well, Ms. Smith, I will send an owl to Quality Quidditch Supplies and see if they have someone available to come out here. Now hurry along, seems to me we both need breakfast before either of us can properly function for the day."

With that, we left the headmistress's office.

Most of Victoria's morning was uneventful and it wasn't until she sat down for lunch with Pansy that the owl came. It was unusual to get mail in the afternoon since most of the school mail came in the morning over breakfast so the lone barn owl was an unusual sight in the bustling Great Hall.

The owl dropped the note near her plate before immediately taking off again. It turned out it was a note from McGonagall. It read:

 _Dear Ms. Smith,_

 _I have contacted Quality Quidditch Supplies on your behalf. They have a maintenance wizard coming out at 3:30 PM following your last afternoon class. Please be at my office at this time._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Professor McGonagall_

 _Headmistress_

Victoria shoved the note in her bag before heading to her next class making a note to remind herself to put a note in the brightest ink possible in her daily planner, which she used to keep herself organized on a daily basis. The planner would start peeping shrilly if she forgot something. Sometimes it was better than a Muggle alarm clock.

Later that afternoon, Victoria made her excuses to Pansy and Laura (Laura whom she only spoke to when absolutely necessary; things had been awkward between them since their argument in front of the entire Defense Against the Dark Arts class the previous week) and headed for the Headmistress' office.

Not counting earlier that morning, Victoria had only been into the Headmistress 'office a handful of times. It was wide and spacious and covered from wall to wall with portraits of the previous heads of the school. The most prominent portraits, however, were the portraits of the previous two headmasters, Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape, which hung adjacent to each other behind the headmistress desk. Albus Dumbledore smiled and winked at her as she entered the office; Snape only scowled, he looked bored.

When Victoria entered the room McGonagall looked up.

"Oh good, Smith, you're here." She said crisply. Just as she finished speaking Victoria noticed the other young man who was standing at the desk McGonagall had apparently been talking to. He looked to be a few years older than her; definitely out of Hogwarts, and good-looking in a nerdy sort of way.

He had tousled reddish hair, bright blue eyes, and a wide smile.

"Terry Carmichael." He extended his hand, which Victoria shook. "So what seems to be the problem?"

"My captain tells me the broom is leaning," Victoria explained, "and I feel it but it's hard to say what's causing it; how much of it is average flying and how much is my use of it for transportation."

Terry nodded, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"I see. Quite an interesting set up you've got, I've never seen a broom customized like this."

The wave of a wand had Victoria sitting in a nearby chair while Terry inspected the broom. He walked around it several times touching the handle and fingering the twigs.

"Your seat I think is throwing off the balance of the broom a little bit… Maybe needs a few more charms on it may be a stronger sticking charm and a featherweight charm. Have you ever considered doing more consistent broom maintenance? That may help with your leaning issues; these twigs on the back end are a bit of a mess."

"I don't have a broom maintenance kit." Victoria muttered, "It's not exactly an activity I can do by myself."

"I'm sure one of the other students, or your Quidditch teammates would help you." McGonagall added.

"I can take care of this for you today, but all I really suggest is keep those twigs trimmed every few weeks and adjust and reapply the charms as needed."

Victoria nodded dutifully.

Soon her Firebolt was as good as new. She couldn't wait to go outside and fly at top speed again she was sure the adjustments Terry had made would make a difference. Then she thanked him and Professor McGonagall before heading back to the common room. She had plenty of time to work on her homework, including an essay on cleaning charms for Flitwick before heading to her Astronomy class at 10 PM.

The other thing Victoria had to look forward to appeared in the common room a few days later. There had been a notice posted about another Hogsmeade weekend the last weekend in February. Victoria was looking forward to a relatively free Saturday where she could, for once, have the time to think and clear her head.

However, she hit a bit of a snag the Wednesday before the trip. She was coming back from her special restroom in the Room of Requirement (after a particularly bad experience with some black pudding) when he stopped her. His name was Simon Hornby, a sixth year Hufflepuff; he was tall and skinny, but not as skinny as Colin Platt (not that Victoria would've dated Colin Platt had someone paid her a thousand Galleons). He was good enough looking Victoria supposed, Simon had dark hair and hazel eyes and a friendly honest face. Usually these were the types of guys that were interested in her, guys who were relatively immature and she had no interest in.

"Hey Victoria… I was wondering…"

Victoria waited, she was in the middle of the hallway as students pressed in around her.

"I was wondering," Simon began again, "if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me next weekend?"

It took Victoria a minute to realize he was actually asking her out.

"Look Simon… Now is not a good time."

Really not a good time, she thought, since I just finished puking my guts out.'s

"Oh…" Simon looked disappointed, "well can we talk later, say, dinner?"

Victoria didn't answer, her brain was spinning mindlessly trying to formulate a response.

"Look, if there's someone else…" Simon trailed off. Upon seeing the look on his face Victoria immediately felt bad, he really did seem like a nice guy.

"Not exactly. I-I'll get back to you." She stammered. Then she rushed away eager to find Pansy, this called for some girl 9 1 1.

Upon returning to the common room, Victoria related her encounter with Simon Hornby to Pansy, who looked as surprised as Victoria had ever seen her.

"Simon Hornby, _actually_ asked you out?"

Victoria nodded.

"Every girl in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff wants to date him," Pansy added, "I think some of the girls in Gryffindor think he's too quiet or something like that. What did you say?"

"I told him I think about it. I'm sorry but you don't accept a date after you've spent the last hour in the bathroom."

Pansy winced.

"That bad, huh?"

Victoria made a face.

"I haven't been that sick since I was about 7 and had my Aunt Janet's tuna casserole!"

Pansy made a face, but then grinned.

"Don't worry, I get the idea."

...

 **A few interesting facts about this chapter:**

 **The entire premise for this chapter is based on wheelchair maintenance guys coming to my school when I was growing up (my wheelchair tended to break down a lot)**

 **The side story of Victoria apparently having food poisoning was based on something that happened to Nick Jonas when he was in London in 2010. I really needed a reason for Victoria to turn Simon down other than the fact she was already interested in someone. Besides, it added a little bit of humor.**


	17. A Place to Think

**Be on the lookout for a cameo from a character in book 7, you might be surprised.**

 **...**

 **Chapter 16-A Place to Think**

The morning of the Hogsmeade visit came up faster than Victoria would have liked, while she was looking forward to having a relaxing morning, she was not looking forward to confronting Simon Hornby, but she hated to be dishonest with the guy.

Saturday morning breakfast was the normal chaos in the Great Hall and while everybody was attacking the mounds of food the Hogwarts house elves had prepared, Victoria located Simon at the Hufflepuff table to give him her final answer.

"Hey Simon." She greeted.

Simon smiled at her, giving her another twinge in the pit of her stomach.

"Did you think about what I said?" He asked.

"Yeah, I did." Victoria replied. "Look Simon, I'm really sorry but I got a lot going on right now what with classes, Quidditch, and some personal stuff. I don't know if I can handle a relationship right now, or even a date. I'm sorry."

He took the news better than she'd expected.

"Look I get it, if there someone else…"

Victoria gave a wan smile.

"Well… it's… complicated."

"Boyfriend in America?" He asked.

"Not quite," Victoria replied, blushing slightly, "but I hope so."

Simon smiled, a genuine smile.

"Well good luck."

Following breakfast, Victoria returned to the common room, she was hoping to catch Pansy before heading down to the village. She glanced at her watch, it was barely 9 o'clock-and that was late for breakfast. Her watch which wouldn't alert for lunch for at least another 4 hours and they weren't due to go down to the village till at least 11.

As she hoped, Victoria found Pansy in the common room reading her Transfiguration textbook.

"You're back from breakfast?" Pansy asked.

"It's the first weekend in a long time I don't have a lot to do," Victoria said as she flopped from her broom into an adjacent armchair. "I'm done with most of my homework, the rest which can wait till this afternoon, Kingsley hasn't even called an afternoon practice for Quidditch."

"He's got a week," Pansy muttered, "my guess is he'll call for practice on Monday or Tuesday on top of having regular practice on Thursday evening."

Victoria sighed.

"You're probably right."

The girls fell into a comfortable silence for a few minutes, while Pansy idly turn the pages of her textbook not really reading what was in front of her. She did this for a few minutes before she spoke again.

"I saw you talking to Simon earlier, how'd that go?"

Victoria shrugged, running a hand through her hair.

"It went pretty well actually. He was pretty nice about it. I think he understands I like someone else."

Pansy raised her eyebrows.

"Jeremiah?"

"So it seems." Victoria said wearily.

"Does he even like you back?" Pansy asked.

"That's the thing," Victoria gave another listless shrug, "I don't know."

At that moment Laura climbed through the portrait hole.

"You guys headed to Hogsmeade later?" She asked. It was the first direct question she had asked in Victoria's presence in at least two weeks.

Pansy answered.

"Yeah. McGonagall is taking role at 11 sharp, and there's no way Filch is going to let anyone sneak out."

Pansy gestured it to her Transfiguration book.

"Look Laura, I got to finish my Transfiguration essay for McGonagall then I'll be down and we can head over to Honeydukes and The Three Broomsticks."

"Sounds good." Then Laura exited the portrait hole as quickly as she had come.

The journey into the village was uneventful while Victoria and Laura were speaking again they weren't as close as they had been at the beginning of the first term, but they talked quietly amongst themselves before coming on to the main street of the village.

Even in early March Hogsmeade looked like something off of a Christmas postcard, with the quaint little shops and little peaked roofs; certainly nothing Victoria had ever seen in the States. The only element missing were the long absent Christmas decorations and copious amounts of snow. By this time of year most of the snow had turned into dirty gray slush and everything about the surrounding area was shades of brown and gray.

After they had walked for some time Victoria excused herself to wander off on her own. She had it in the direction of the infamous Shrieking Shack which had been a landmark around Hogwarts for many years; it had become legend even before Victoria or her sister were born.

Away from the chatter of the village Victoria let out a long breath. It'd been a long time since she had had a moment to herself (other than the late nights in the common room when she was finishing her schoolwork). Just once, she wanted time to herself where she could _think_ and not have people telling her what to do and how to feel.

She thought about the entire thing that had happened with Kingsley and how the school had reacted, she thought about the correspondence with Jeremiah and how their friendship was holding up despite her absence from AWI. Sometimes she wished she could just go back home, back to Washington DC where everything was normal. As much as she liked Hogwarts, she missed her old life.

And she found herself wondering into the Hogs Head, an old pub at the edge of the village; other than smelling of goats and everything old and stale. It was peaceful and quiet.

"Hardly ever get visitors in here; why the long face? Seems people only come in here when they're hiding something or want to stay away from folks."

Victoria looked up to see an old wizard with a long beard as she pulled her broom up to the nearest table.

"You could say that." She muttered.

"Here," the old wizard walked around the counter of a dilapidated looking bar and came back around to the table with a couple of bottles of what looked to be Butterbeer. "I'd offer you a Firewhiskey, but seeing as you are not of age I think this would do just as well." The older man sat down next to her with a wan smile. "Aberforth Dumbledore." He stuck out a gnarled hand.

"Victoria Smith."

Victoria talked for a long time, about all her concerns and misgivings about her current situations and, to his credit, Aberforth listened; as if he had made his living listening to people.

"Seems like you've done all right for yourself." Aberforth murmured, "you've made friends and are doing all right at Hogwarts, am I right?"

Victoria nodded.

"As for your other problem, not sure I'll be much help. Can't say I have or have known anyone that has been lucky in love and the only person I know who's fallen in love was my brother and can't say that ended well. All one big mess if you ask me."

His attitude didn't exactly give Victoria much confidence, but she was happy to have someone who had listen.

After finishing her butterbeer, she thanked Aberforth and headed out into the dreary March morning; the betterbeer warming her from the inside out; heading for The Three Broomsticks to meet her friends. She was feeling much better now.


	18. A Condition of Quidditch

**Chapter 17-A Condition of Quidditch**

By the time Kingsley called practice on Tuesday afternoon the weather was dismal. It was, as Victoria observed, stereotypical English weather; cold, dreary, and rainy. Not ideal flying weather.

However, she kept her mouth shut, gritted her teeth, gripped her broom handle and got through practice even though she was wet and cold by the time they finished.

"All I got to say is we better win the match if Kingsley is making us practice in this weather." She muttered to Pansy as they made their way back up to the castle.

Pansy chuckled darkly.

"Well the team will feed him to the giant squid if we don't."

The morning of the match was a typical bustling Saturday morning. It would've been a nice day if it hadn't been for the gray skies and the rain splattered windows.

"Don't tell me we still have to fly in that slop!" Sean Hart complained as he shoved another sausage into his mouth.

"Unfortunately yes, we do," Pansy replied tightly, "so suck it up." Sean shut up after that. Victoria had to hand it to Pansy, she could be a force of nature when she wanted to; maybe there was a reason she was a Beater.

The team headed to the locker room shortly after breakfast Victoria was relieved when she finally made it into the small narrow building at the edge of the pitch, it didn't really matter, she thought she would have to go back out into the rain in a few minutes, but at least her school robes could dry while the game went on. She and Pansy didn't talk much as they ran one last maintenance check on their brooms and Pansy helped Victoria back onto her broom.

"You fix that loose twig in the back?" Pansy asked.

Victoria nodded, once again inspecting her broom tail.

"Did you take your potion for your vertigo?" Pansy asked.

"Yeah, when Kingsley was giving his pep talk."

"Oh one more thing…"

Pansy pointed her wand at Victoria.

"Impervious!"

Victoria then cast the same spell on Pansy.

"That should at least keep away the worst of the rain;" Pansy said firmly, "at least get us through the game. Fingers crossed we catch the Snitch quickly."

"Speak for yourself." Victoria muttered, as she turned to head out of the locker room.

"Hurry along girls," Kingsley called, "Madam Hooch wants to start the match as soon as possible so someone can catch the Snitch before we all get struck by lightning."

Victoria was surprised at the turnout for the match. Most of the students were huddled under banners and umbrellas, but still as enthusiastic as ever. Madam Hooch looked like a wet old hen in her gray robes. Her hat was a little lopsided.

"I want a nice clean game, I don't want any disasters in these conditions-understood?"

Fourteen heads nodded and Kingsley and the Hufflepuff captain, Clinton Knack, shook hands. Clinton had a homely face, freckles, and red hair which was currently plastered to his head. He vaguely reminded Victoria of a life-size Pillsbury dough boy, he was definitely the most unusual Quidditch player she had ever seen.

"Let the match begin!" Madam Hooch yelled, but it was hard to hear her over the wind and rain.

At the start of her whistle the brooms rose into the air shooting off for their respectable places on the pitch. Victoria took her normal spot high above the game, when she wasn't looking for the Snitch, which was barely visible as is, she observed the game.

Clinton Knack made a surprisingly good Keeper, he was like a linebacker in American football, solid and unmoving. While he wasn't the fastest flyer, he was good at what he did which meant the Gryffindor Keeper and to work twice as hard. It was a good match, Victoria reflected, despite the pouring rain. She was about to make another pass for the Snitch when she saw a blur of yellow, this could only mean one of two things; either she had seen the Snitch or she had seen the robes of the Hufflepuff seeker. Either way, things were about to get very interesting.

She went into a spectacular dive in an effort to catch the snitch and the other seeker. She didn't even hear the commentary or the gasp from the crowd, she was only focused on her broom and the activity in front of her. Everything was so close she barely had enough room to pull alongside the other player whose arm was already outstretched.

"Move it!" She growled to her Firebolt as she turned in her right knee to put on an extra burst of speed.

The next few moments happened so fast she barely remembered them. She remembered reaching for the Snitch, feeling it's wings brushed her fingertips, she felt the hand of the other seeker attempting to push her out of the way, and the push, pull and slap of the wind. Then her fingers closed around the little gold ball there was a rushing in her ears, and she knew no more.

At first, she couldn't remember where she was, but slowly the walls of the Hospital Wing came into focus. What was she doing in the Hospital Wing?

She finally managed to crack her eyes open the rest of the way. Her head was throbbing and reaching up she could feel a bandage.

"What-what happened?" She croaked. Looking around she could see the six remaining members of the Gryffindor team.

"Looks like the storm blew you just a little bit, we were lucky Professor Quinn was at the match, he managed to slow you down before you hit the ground." Kingsley said in a low voice, "You were banged up pretty good though-broke your arm and all that."

"But, we won the match." Sean Hart said brightly, his brown eyes twinkling merrily.

It was only then Victoria became aware of the stabbing pain in her right arm which radiated all the way up to her elbow. She was just about to say something when Madame Pomfrey bustled back into the room with a large bottle of what Victoria recognized as Skelo-gro. She only recognize the potion because Mrs. Knott, as a Healer used it frequently and Jeremiah's brother, Christian, had taken loads of the stuff over the years.

This was going to be fun, she thought sarcastically. Pansy gave her a sympathetic glance before the team left the room.

As it turned out, Kingsley had put her on a week's reserve much, to her irritation, but he explained it was as a precaution to make sure she didn't injure herself again the following match. In the meantime, Desiree Cottenwood would be filling in during practice. The next match was almost a month away and then it would be the final before the end of the year. Victoria hoped Jeremiah could make it out to Hogwarts before then.


	19. In the Darkest of Places

**Chapter 18-In the Darkest of Places**

Her temporary hiatus from the Quidditch team gave Victoria time to think. The entire accident had made her, once again, frustrated. While Kingsley assured her it could've happened anyone, Victoria wasn't so sure. She was a good Quidditch player, but she wasn't fantastic; if she had been faster, if she had been able to steer her broom better she wouldn't be sitting in the hospital wing at 3 AM waiting for her bones to grow back.

Skelo-gro was not a pleasant experience.

By the next morning her bones had grown back, but Madame Pomfrey was still keeping an annoyingly close eye on her.

"If you have any more problems Ms. Smith, please come to me. I don't when you ending up in St. Mungos because I didn't treat the aftercare of the Skelo-grow properly."

"This wouldn't have happened if I could move around like a regular student!" Victoria grumbled.

"No Healer has been able to find a potion to or spell that can fix your legs and hands?" The school nurse inquired curiously.

"I've been to every healer from here to Timbuktu since I was born!" I exclaimed, "Most of them are still puzzled at what's even wrong with me, usually something like this could be fixed with a few spells."

Madame Pomfrey looked sympathetic and then she seemed to think of something.

"I may have just the thing." The friendly but stern school nurse hurried back into her office and returned a few minutes later with a magazine. Flipping through the pages she stopped at an article.

"A couple of young doctors from Switzerland are coming to St. Mungo's sometime in May. "I can send an owl or two to St. Mungo's and see what I can find out. Perhaps they can stop here at some point."

Victoria was grinning now.

"That's great! Please let me know what you find out."

The nurse beamed.

"I most certainly will."

Victoria was finally released from the Hospital Wing late the next day, Sunday. She reflected at least she hadn't missed any class over her debacle with her Quidditch injury. The news about the spell research had put her in a ridiculously good mood and she couldn't wait to tell Pansy, Laura and Jeremiah. Most of all, she couldn't wait to tell her parents, if all went well she could be walking in a few months.

Once she returned to the common room she found Pansy and Laura finishing up last-minute homework.

Pansy looked up.

"Oh, you're back!" She exclaimed. "When she let you out?"

"Just now. I think she was keeping me a little longer because she wanted to make sure my arm was working okay. It's not perfect, but it's way better than it was."

"Well anything's better than what you had." Pansy replied, "I heard Kingsley say was a very bad break, I think you had a bone strengthening potion on top of the Skelo-gro."

"I did?" Victoria asked. "I don't remember that."

"She had you on a lot of potions just to make sure you were all right. Usually Skelo-grow isn't used strictly to mend bones, you can do that with a couple of good charms." Pansy shrugged, "at least that's what I've read. It was a break," she said again seriously, "I heard Madame Pomfrey hadn't seen anything like it; she almost sent you to St. Mungo's."

While Victoria grappled with the details of her injury she was eager to tell her friends the good news that had come out of it.

"I haven't told you the best part!"

So she told them and by the time she finished both Pansy and Laura were staring at her open mouthed.

"That's amazing!" Laura exclaimed, dumbfounded. "You're going to tell Jeremiah, aren't you?"

"Of course! I'm going to tell my parents as well, I'll probably I will them and Jeremiah tonight. Hey, do you think one of you could take the letter to my parents to the owlery?"

"Sure, no problem." Pansy answered.

In the hour before dinner Victoria wrote out her letters hoping to have them both off before she went to bed that night.

She wrote the letter to her parents first.

 _Dear mom and dad,_

 _Was told some wonderful news by the school nurse today but I guess I better fill you in on why and was in the hospital wing in the first place. The match against Hufflepuff went well (we won) until I was blown off my broom. As you know, the weather around here has been quite bad, it's been raining for the past week. Anyway, we played the match despite the weather and I would have caught the snitch anyway but the wind blew me off course a little bit (I almost got knocked into a tree) and I broke my arm. I've been in the hospital since yesterday afternoon. When I was leaving today, Madame Pomfrey told me there's a research study going on at St. Mungo's in a few months for witches and wizards with untreatable diagnoses; she wants to put my name in._

 _Just thought you would like to know._

 _Love your daughter,_

 _Victoria_

After completing this letter she set it aside and started her letter to Jeremiah.

 _Jeremiah,_

 _You won't believe what happened to me!_

 _Do you want the bad or the good news first? Well I guess it will make sense if I just tell you everything straight._

 _First, the weather here has been terrible! It's been raining for practically a week straight, which I know where we normally live is unheard of right? I've been practicing Quidditch in the rain, it's a wonder I don't get a cold. We did our match yesterday also in the rain. This is where everything started. The game went well enough I guess and what has continued that way except for the end of it. I was going for the Snitch when it happened, I got jostled, but I caught the snitch and before I could pull up there was this big gust of wind and I got blown a fair distance and almost hit a tree! By the time I was down on the ground I was pretty banged up; honestly I'm lucky I didn't get killed! Professor Quinn managed to slow me down though but I still took a beating, Long story short I've been in the hospital wing since yesterday, just got back as a matter of fact._

 _When I was leaving the school nurse told me there's a research study going on at St. Mungo's (the wizard hospital here) and she wants to put my name in for their study. Do you know what that means? I could walk again and we can do all the stuff we've always wanted to do!_

 _Sorry I've been rambling so much, I'm just really excited._

 _Let me know if you can come out for the Quidditch final at the end of May._

 _Victoria_

Then suddenly remembering something, she hastily added a postscript to her parents' letter.

 _PS. Alastair is on another errand, sending this with a school owl; just FYI._

After finishing her letter to Jeremiah, Victoria whistled for Alastair and sent him off. Her letter to her parents was still sitting on the edge of the table, she would give it to Pansy to run up to the owlery after dinner.

The next few weeks flew by. As it was quickly becoming spring, everyone was worried about the upcoming exams, which would take place at the end of May. For Victoria, this proved to cause a large amount of anxiety, but Laura and Pansy calmed her down.

"Victoria, you take better notes than any of the other students at Hogwarts and that's without actually "writing" your notes, you'll be fine." Laura exclaimed one afternoon when Victoria was fretting over which ingredients she needed to remember for the written portion of her Potions exam. This only seemed to appease her slightly. Her only consolation was the fact that Jeremiah, too, would be taking exams though his were slightly earlier than hers they were no different except on the subjects and topics covered, but until then, they still had time to exchange letters.

Jeremiah's reply to her letter came sometime the following week and was the only bright spot in Victoria's otherwise hectic schedule. (The letter from her parents had come back the day after she had sent it and as she had imagined her parents were thrilled, although her mother warned her not to get her hopes up.)

The letter was typical of Jeremiah and got straight to the point.

 _Victoria,_

 _That's wonderful news about the research study! Do your parents know yet?_

 _To answer your other question I'm planning on coming in to Hogwarts on May 16; the match is still on the seventeenth right? I am also planning on staying in London for a bit, Jason is still in Scotland trying to round up Death Eaters; even our Ministry says they've gone into hiding and are not showing their hand yet._

Victoria nodded to herself as she read this, while there had been no attacks or killings, she knew the last of Voldemort's supporters were biding their time and when the opportunity was right they would strike with a vengeance.

She read the last few lines of Jeremiah's letter.

… _Other than that, I will see you in August for the Dragons game._

 _Jeremiah_

Victoria was smiling all the way to Transfiguration, where she was so enthusiastic she made the ears on the cat she was transfiguring into a rabbit a little too long (even for a rabbit) so it kept tripping over them every time it moved. While Pansy and Laura giggled, McGonagall only glared, but Victoria wasn't even sorry. She didn't even mind she had only passed with an "Acceptable" on the day's assignment.

 **Coming down to the last few chapters on this story. Two more chapters and the epilogue before it is finally finished. Please note that I am planning at least 2 sequels, but when these will be posted I'm not sure yet. The first, Year of Change will most likely be posted early 2016.**


	20. Loyalties

**Chapter 19-Loyalties**

The morning of the Quidditch final Victoria hardly touched her breakfast. While she had gotten used to the jitters before a big game this felt different.

"You have to at least eat something," Pansy encouraged, "the match is against Slytherin; they're going to be a tough team to beat, and not just because they creamed Hufflepuff in the match a few weeks ago."

Victoria nodded absently, she knew this already as Kingsley had drilled it into them the over the past few weeks.

"That's not the only reason she's nervous." Laura said with a sly smile. "So, when is Jeremiah coming to the school?"

While Laura had backed off her insistence Jeremiah and Victoria should be dating, she hadn't stopped teasing Victoria altogether.

Victoria shrugged.

"He said shortly before 10, his brother's apparating down on his break."

"Your parents are coming, aren't they?" Pansy asked.

Victoria nodded, before stuffing part of a sausage into her mouth.

"My mom is, dad has to work, something about a raid they're doing today."

"They're still looking for that Death Eater camp up north, aren't they?" Laura asked.

"Why do you think everyone we know is busting their butts? The Ministry still has people working overtime." Pansy asked rhetorically.

Victoria's sighed.

"I don't know, I just really wish my dad could come see me play."

Jeremiah arrived just before Victoria was going down to pitch with Pansy. They were just heading down when Victoria saw him walking up to the castle behind Filch. She watched as they drew closer, Jeremiah wasn't the type of person that would get in trouble, but the way of the caretaker and his cat Mrs. Norris watched every student (as if to catch any wrongdoing) gave her the creeps.

Jeremiah instantly brightened when he saw her his eyes sparkling his mouth stretching into his trademark grin.

"Hey." He said. "You guys heading down to the pitch?"

"Yeah." Victoria replied.

"Yeah," Pansy interjected, "Kingsley has his pep talk before the game starts. He'll have plenty to say today, it being the final."

Filch cut into their conversation.

"I be heading down to the pitch if I were you." He wheezed. His eyes landed squarely on Jeremiah, but Jeremiah, to his credit didn't flinch. "Seems to me Gryffindor won't get very far without their Seeker." His gaze transferred to Victoria, then he shuffled off, muttering to himself.

Victoria made introductions as the three of them walked in the direction of the Quidditch pitch.

"Pansy plays Beater," Victoria explained.

"What happened to that other girl?" Jeremiah asked, "The one you were hanging out with when I saw you in October?"

"She still here." Pansy replied dryly, "Coming down with the rest of the school, I'd expect."

"We had a bit of an argument a few months ago, and well, we don't really see eye to eye anymore." Victoria explained. "We're still friends, but we're not as close as we were." Victoria gave him the short version, but she didn't mention he had been the cause of the breakup of her friendship with Laura.

Jeremiah frowned, his mouth puckering.

"Sorry to hear that." He murmured, and they continued to the Quidditch pitch in silence.

Before Victoria headed for the locker rooms Jeremiah took her aside.

"Good luck today." He said, his eyes twinkled and his mouth turned up.

"The team's good, but I think we can win. Even missing a few practices I've been doing pretty good, and my flying is better now that the weather is warmer."

Jeremiah smiled again.

"Well, I'll be watching." He gestured to the pair of Omnioculars which were hanging around his neck. After that, they parted ways but Victoria knew she would see him afterwards. She was still wishing she could give him a full commentary of the match from the stands herself.

The scene in the locker room was the normal pre-game chaos; Colin Harper and Sean Hart were betting each other how much Firewhiskey they could drink, but Victoria knew this was mostly talk since neither of them were legal for at least another year. Boys were still boys no matter which country you were in. While the rest of the boys got ready she and Pansy settled into their normal pre-game routine, checking their brooms and Victoria taking her potion before they sat down for Kingsley's pep talk.

"Well folks, this is the big one and we got one of Hogwarts hardest teams! You think we've trained hard? I bet you Slytherin has trained harder, which means we have to play and play harder!"

There was a rousing chair from all seven players.

"I know a lot of you have friends and family in the stands today so let's go out there and show them what we're made of, what we've worked so hard for!"

There was another cheer as the team exited the locker room.

The majority of the game went smoother than Victoria had expected, certainly smoother than the last game she had played. Flying in the spring weather felt good and she was thankful that Pansy, for the most part, kept the Slytherin Beaters off her back. They had a game they liked to play to see if they could knock her off her broom without Hooch or the captains noticing. Most of the other players were civil towards her, but a lot of the Slytherins like to have fun at her expense mostly because she was small and much slower than they were. Their favorite game was to fly circles around her just for the heck of it, if only to disorient and annoy her. However, today Victoria wasn't going to let anything stop her, not with Jeremiah watching.

Between the Beaters and the Chasers trying to hurt or block her, Victoria didn't have an easy time, but the Seeker was just as big an opponent. The Slytherin seeker was a third year with a thin face and big teeth. He had the gangly look of your average teenager that said he hadn't grown into his body quite yet. He gave Victoria a nasty smirk as he shot past her, a look that said he would certainly catch the snitch before she did.

This made Victoria even more determined, and she took off after him putting on another burst of speed. It wasn't catching up to him that was the problem it was getting out ahead of him to actually catch the little flying ball that was the issue, but Victoria thought of her mother in the stands, of Olive and Jeremiah. They were all watching and she was sure all of them were counting on a Gryffindor victory.

For a brief moment Victoria saw Jeremiah's laughing face, she thought about everything she liked about him and knew how happy he would be if they won (though she figured he would be happy regardless). Then she put on a little bit extra speed, extended her hand, gripped her broom with her knees, and shot forward. While her opponent struggled to catch her, her hand closed around the little ball, its wings beating against her fingers.

A cheer rose from the sea of red and gold! Victoria didn't know where Jeremiah had ended up but at least he was watching. The next thing she knew, the team was gathered in mid air for a celebratory hug then floated down to the ground near the edge of the pitch.

People were rushing from the stands and Victoria was caught up into a flow that made her feel dizzy and claustrophobic but exhilarated, even though the sensation would probably hit her harder later. Then someone reached and grabbed her, lifting her off her broom and wrapping her in a tight hug and it was only then she realized it was Jeremiah, who had pushed his way through the increasing chaos to her side.

"I didn't know you could fly like that." He muttered somewhere near her ear. They were in some sort of weird embrace with her legs dangling in mid air, her broom all but forgotten. It was moments like this with Jeremiah she enjoyed, those hugs that meant something and this definitely meant something; no words could say how proud he was of her.

It was only after a few minutes she realized her mom and sister were standing there and she pulled away from Jeremiah almost losing her balance, but he chuckled quietly and helped her back on her broom, then turned around to greet her mom and Olive.

"That was a fantastic game, honey." Her mother said, "Your father and I are very proud of you."

Victoria felt vaguely embarrassed.

"Thanks mom."

"Party Gryffindor common room!" Somebody called and the entire throng began to move towards the castle once more.

The party was in full swing by the time Victoria got the news. How McGonagall managed to find her in the melee she had no idea. That the headmistress had even braved the chaos of the overly crowded common room amused her.

"Ms. Smith, if I am not mistaken Madame Pomfrey is looking for you. She says she has some information. She'll see you in the Hospital Wing."

"Can Jeremiah come too?"

McGonagall's stern gaze softened slightly as her eyes moved from Jeremiah to Victoria and back again. Victoria knew she had already noticed their chemistry without saying so; everyone did.

"I don't see why not."

Victoria nodded at Pansy and Laura before she and Jeremiah moved carefully through the crowd and out the portrait hole (which was easier said than done in Victoria's case). They didn't speak much as they made their way up to the hospital wing.

"You think this is about the research study?" Jeremiah asked.

"Probably." Victoria answered. She had just changed out of her Quidditch robes and still had her school robes hastily tossed over one shoulder. She didn't know what to expect as Jeremiah pushed open the doors of the school infirmary, and it certainly wasn't the five people talking around one of the deserted hospital beds. She was still processing this when they all turned around to face her.5 people


	21. The Research Wizards of St Mungo's

**Chapter 20-The Research Wizards of Saint Mungos**

When they entered the room the five people standing around the bed turned around, and Victoria was surprised to see her parents there, even her dad, who looked like he had come straight from the Ministry.

"Mom, dad, what are you both doing here?"

"The headmistress sent both of us an owl, and of course I was already here," her mother spoke first, "your father Apparated straight from London."

Her father was a tall wizard with dark, slightly thinning hair and he stood behind her mother talking in a low voice. In the middle of this all was Madame Pomfrey, who was talking to two wizards in white robes bearing the symbol of two crossed wands and the Swiss flag. Then the nurse spoke up so everyone in the room could hear.

"Well, now that we're all here I think we can begin." She said in her typical brisk tone. It was then the other two wizards in the room turned to face Victoria and she got her first real look at them. Along with their official looking robes, befitting of the wizarding medical community, they were relatively nondescript; one was tall and slender with short brown hair, slightly shorter than her dad. The other was short and stout with blond hair and a cherubic face.

"May I introduce Healer Bollinger (she gestured to the tall dark wizard) and Healer Fessler (the short blond wizard) they are here on behalf of Victoria at my request, perhaps they can help her. The men each in turn as they spoke (in heavily accented English) shook hands with both her parents before launching into a very wordy explanation about why they were there.

"You would like to see your daughter walk again, yes?" Healer Fessler asked, "I think our program at St. Mungo's can certainly do that."

Healer Bollinger spoke up picking up where his colleague had left off.

"Now, while it is not a guarantee, we can certainly make her stronger; she may be able to walk with a cane at some point instead of riding around on a broom." He gave her Firebolt an appraising look and a little smile.

"Our techniques use a combination of stabilization spells and strengthening potions. This is administered over a three-month period as part of an in-patient program within the hospital."

"So I would have to stay at the hospital all summer?" Victoria asked.

"That's correct Ms. Smith." Madame Pomfrey answered.

"What about the Quidditch game I'm going to in August?" I glanced at Jeremiah, who raised his eyebrows.

"Now while this study is extensive," Healer Fessler, "we are by no means keeping you prisoner. You have to attend your treatments, yes, but other than that you can come and go as you please." He ended his explanation with a cheerful smile. "Where is your Quidditch game?"

"America." Victoria muttered, "I was planning on spending a few days there at the end of the summer."

"Now I'm a Quidditch man myself the Swiss, German and Italian teams are good this year, the French and the finished team… Not so much." He gave an amused chuckle.

They talked about Quidditch for a few minutes before the Healers got back to the business of discussing the treatment plan. They were more now discussing things with her parents, and Jeremiah and Victoria were left out the conversation, talking quietly amongst themselves.

After an hour or so and her parents had signed several pieces of parchment Healer Bollinger and Fessler shook hands once again.

"We look forward to seeing you at St. Mungo's on the first of June." Healer Bollinger said. "The least we can do is let you finish your exams, and congratulations on the win for your Quidditch team here at school. I hear you're quite the player."

Victoria blushed, giving Jeremiah another sideways look, he smiled back.

"Well, I did catch the snitch this morning sir."

Healer Bollinger chuckled.

"Very good, very good."

Compared to her unexpected meeting with the Swiss Healers the remaining weeks of the term turned out to be relatively easy. Her exams were not as dreadful as Victoria had expected, and she had managed to pass her Potions exam without too much trouble, much to her surprise, even Professor Slughorn seemed pleased with her progress.

"Well Ms. Smith, it looks like you managed to remember all your ingredients and processes after all. I'm not making any promises, but I should think you should pass. Won't know your results till July or August, of course, but this is setting you up quite nicely for your fifth year."

He had given her a beaming smile then, and walked out of the dungeon which served as the classroom.

Buoyed by Slughorn's confidence in her, some of Victoria's anxiety about her exams evaporated, even Laura and Pansy seem to notice.

"Will we see you at all this summer?" Pansy asked one morning at breakfast.

Victoria shrugged, before swallowing a mouthful of pancake.

"Probably not, unless you want to spend half your summer at St. Mungo's."

"You're coming back to Hogwarts, aren't you?" Laura asked.

Victoria nodded.

"Until the Ministry captures the rest of these Death Eaters, but from what I've heard they're not making it very easy, even on the most seasoned Aurors."

"No kidding," Laura muttered, "according to my mom, my aunt comes home every day looking exhausted, she says it's something about the stacks of paperwork on her desk related to raids. There have been dozens since the middle of February."

"So what's going on with Jeremiah?" Pansy asked, changing the subject. For a moment Victoria thought she preferred discussions about Death Eaters.

"He's staying in London for a few weeks before returning to America, but we have plans for sometime in August."

Pansy nodded.

"So you'll get to see him then."

"For more than a day, yes." Victoria replied.

Just then Pansy's watch let out a shriek.

"You're late, you're late, you're late!" It trilled in a shrill voice. A few seconds later Victoria's own watch went off piping a similar message. For the moment, she was glad the Great Hall was mostly empty.

"Come on," Laura muttered, "let's go before Flitwick gives us all detention, that's not exactly how I want to start my morning."

...

 **Hope you have all enjoyed it; last chapter coming next week**


	22. Epilogue-Einstein's Errand

**Epilogue: Einstein's Errand**

The end of term came faster than Victoria had anticipated, and while she was eager to get back to London she was sad to leave the place that over the past year had become like a second home.

That morning late in May she had one last breakfast with her friends in the Great Hall before catching the train at Hogsmeade station. The following scene in the next few hours was chaos as students made their way from the castle to the station lugging their trunks as they went; Victoria's was hoisted by Hagrid, who bid her a very cheerful farewell before putting her (and her trunk) on the train.

The other person accompanying them on their way back to London was Professor Quinn. Victoria reflected it was odd he rode with the students to and from Hogwarts, but it seemed he wanted to keep a good rapport with them, Victoria seemed to think this was a good approach even though some of the Slytherins thought he was a bit of a suck up. Victoria understood this point of view, but she appreciated what Quinn did for his students, whether it was within Hogwarts or not.

Victoria's other companions were Pansy and Laura and all three of them shared a compartment with Professor Quinn as they had over the holidays. Victoria was mindlessly staring out the window as the countryside whipped by when she caught a blur of white flying frantically outside the window and it was only after seeing the blur for a second, and then third time she realized it was an owl.

Professor Quinn looked up from the book he was reading.

"Victoria, is that your friend's owl?"

Victoria looked again and realized that it was indeed Einstein, buffered slightly by the train and bobbing slightly as he waited to be let inside.

"Yeah," Victoria replied, "yeah it is. I wonder why Jeremiah sent him out here when he knew I was coming home today?"

She frowned as Professor Quinn opened the window and the slightly ruffled snowy owl made his way inside the compartment.

Einstein landed on the seat and Victoria only then realized he was holding a letter in his beak. Carefully she took it from him, opened it, and began to read, with Professor Quinn and Pansy reading over her shoulder.

 _Victoria,_

 _I hope this letter finds you okay. I wasn't sure if you would still be in Hogwarts or not. Got some news before I left for Europe I forgot to tell you about when I saw you a few weeks ago. I'm hoping to be part of an exchange program next year. I don't know where I'm going yet, but I will be sure to let you know. Still here in London with my aunt (it's quite boring actually) I'll try to get to Kings Cross on the Muggle transportation if I can._

 _See you very soon,_

 _Jeremiah_

Borrowing Professor Quinn's quill, Victoria scribbled a quick reply on the back of the note.

 _Jeremiah,_

 _Coming into Kings Cross later this afternoon. For future reference, we usually leave Hogwarts the last week in May, the train usually leaves by 11 AM. Hope the exchange program thing works out, I can't wait to see you._

 _Victoria_

She sent the reply (and a few Chocolate Frogs) with Einstein who gave a soft, but important sounding hoot before flying out the window again. Victoria watched until the white bird had disappeared, ghostlike, beyond the horizon.

It was late in the afternoon when the train arrived back at Kings Cross. On the platform, which was teeming with various witches and wizards awaiting their sons and daughters, Victoria searched for her parents, but the first person she saw was Jeremiah standing next to a short witch with grayish hair. She took this to be his aunt.

She made her way over to them after saying goodbye to Laura and Pansy who made their way through the crowd looking for their own parents.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

"Well I said I'd be there to meet you, didn't I?" Jeremiah grinned, his blue green eyes twinkling.

Victoria was about to reply when she saw her parents and Olive coming over. For once, her younger sister was not reading, but still lugging her trunk, her school satchel still slung over one shoulder.

"You ready to go?" Her dad asked.

Victoria nodded as she turned her broomstick and Jeremiah and his aunt followed them as Jeremiah and Victoria continued their conversation; following Olive and the adults off the platform and back towards the barrier between Platform 9 and Three Quarters and the rest of the Muggle world.

"You have a good semester?" Her mother asked.

"Yeah, it was great and if you got my last owl my exams went pretty well."

"You should be set up nicely for your fifth year," her dad commented, "if I remember correctly Hogwarts does career advisement for their fifth years. You ready for that?"

Victoria shrugged and looked at Jeremiah, who shrugged back. Then her mother turned her attention to Jeremiah and started asking him how long he would be in London.

"Another week or so." Jeremiah answered as the small group headed towards the parking lot where the Smiths' car was waiting.

"How did you get here?" Victoria asked not seeing any form of wizard transportation.

"Side along, it's just me and my aunt so it was probably the fastest way, not my favorite, but…"

"Well you better get used to it!" His aunt said briskly, "you'll be doing it yourself in another year."

"She's been bugging me about Aparation since I got here!" Jeremiah shook his head.

"When I was your age we just did it!" His aunt declared, "Puking, wobbly knees and all!"

Victoria chuckled, as they said one last goodbye and she watched, as her dad put her into the waiting car, as Jeremiah and his aunt disappeared with a soft "pop".

The ride back to Number 17 was uneventful, her sister was talking about her exams and what she hoped to take next year, as a third-year, she would have many more options, but they both agreed they would take Care Of Magical Creatures with Hagrid as soon as possible. Afterwards, talk turned to the research study at St. Mungo's.

"We have a week before you go in for treatment." Her mother said from the front seat, "that, of course, will take up a lot of time, but your father and I are prepared to work around it."

Victoria knew the summer would be busy (her treatment aside) but she was looking forward to it and spending time with the people that mattered most. She fell into silence as the car continued down the busy streets into the heart of Muggle London.


End file.
